W.A.P.  MARTIN 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


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T5he  Siege  in  Peking 


Dr.  Martin’s  “Compendium  of  Information” 


j \ p.YCLE  OF  f ATHAY 

or 

China,  South  and  North 

WITH  PERSONAL  REMINISCENCES  BY 

W.  A.  P.  MARTIN.  D.D.,  LL.D. 

President  of  the  Imperial  University  of  Peking 

With  Seventy  Illustrations,  Map  and  Index,  8vo, 
Decorated  Cloth,  $2.00 


“ A scholarly  epitome  of  the  life  and  thought  of  the  Chi- 
nese nation  for  upwards  of  four  thousand  years.” — Phila- 
delphia Times. 

“Will  add  even  to  the  specialists  knowledge  of  Chinese 
character.  A storehouse  of  facts  and  personal  reminiscen- 
ces.”— San  Francisco  Chronicle. 

“ Nowhere  can  be  found  a more  luminous  sketch  of  Chi- 
nese history  during  the  last  four  thousand  years  . . . With 
the  actual  political  and  social  condition  of  the  country.” — 
New  York  Sun. 

“Earnestly  to  be  commended  for  its  liberality  of  view, 
wealth  of  information  and  clear  knowledge.” — Boston 
Beacon. 


FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 

New  York  : 158  Fifth  Ave.  Chicago  : 63  Washington  St. 
Toronto  : 154  Yonge  St. 


DR.  -MARTIX  IX  SIEGE  COSTUME,  AS  HE  ARRIVED  IX 
X E \V  YORK  CITY,  OCTOBER  23RD,  1900. 


Copyright,  1900 

by 

FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


THE  CAXTON  PRESS 
NEW  YORK. 


TO 

THE  MEMORY  OF  THE  BRAVE  MEM 
WHO  DIED  IN  DEFENCE  OF  THE  LEGA  TIONS 
DURING  THE  SIEGE 
AND  OF 

THOSE  WHO  FELL  IN  THE  RESCUE 
THIS  VOLUME  IS 


REVERENTLY  INSCRIBED 


THE  AUTHOR  TO  THE  READER 


When  I left  China  only  a little  over  a month 
ago  I had  no  intention  of  making  a book.  My 
friends,  however,  insist  that  I should  put  the  ac- 
count of  my  experiences  during  the  siege  into  a 
permanent  form.  To  me  it  is  painful,  Infandum 
rcnovarc  dolorem.  But  the  public,  more  imperi- 
ous than  the  Queen  of  Carthage,  must  be  obeyed. 

On  reaching  New  York  in  the  actual  costume 
which  I wore  during  the  siege,  I called  a boy  to 
carry  my  packages,  my  son  Newell  having  gone 
to  the  wrong  station  to  meet  me.  As  I was 
carrying  a gun,  the  lad  remarked: 

“ You  must  have  been  hunting  somewhere?  ” 

“ Yes,”  said  I,  “ in  Asia,  beyond  the  sea.” 

“ What  kind  of  game?  ” he  inquired. 

“ Tigers,”  I replied — I ought  to  have  said 
hyaenas. 

He  asked  no  further  questions,  and  I added  no 
explanation. 

The  gentle  reader  will  find  the  explanation  in 
the  following  pages. 


7 


8 


The  Author  to  the  Reader 


I have  not  had  time  to  compare  views  with 
any  one  who  has  written  on  the  subject,  nor  even 
to  verify  my  dates,  having  depended  solely  on 
my  memory,  and  dictated  my  text,  with  all  pos- 
sible rapidity,  to  a stenographer. 

Trusting  the  reader  will  regard  favorably  the 
following  chapters,  unkempt  as  they  are,  and 
that  he  will  lay  down  the  book  with  the  convic- 
tion with  which  I have  written  it,  namely : that 
in  the  events  now  going  on  in  the  Far  East,  great 
issues  are  at  stake  for  the  church,  the  state,  and 
the  world. 

Audubon  Park,  New  York, 

November  14,  1900 


f 


FROM  THE  PIK-HO  TO  PEKING. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

PAGE 

The  Eight  Banners  of  the  Allies  and  the  Eight 


OF  THE  MaNCHUS 13 

CHAPTER  II 

The  Emperor  and  the  Reform  Party  ...  31 

CHAPTER  III 

The  Empress  Dowager  and  Her  Clique  . . 45 

CHAPTER  IV 

The  Boxers  and  Their  Allies  ....  60 

CHAPTER  V 

Siege  of  the  Legations  in  Peking  73 

CHAPTER  VI 

Additional  Incidents  of  the  Siege  . . 108 

CHAPTER  VII 

Rescue  and  Retribution 126 

CHAPTER  VIII 

Reconstruction 142 

APPENDIX 171 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  illustrations  marked  thus  ( * ) are  reproduced  by  the  consent  of  Leslie' s 
Weekly , and  copyrighted  by  the  Judge  Publishing  Company , iqoo 

Dr.  Martin  in  Siege  Costume  . . Frontispiece 

As  he  arrived  in  New  York  City,  October  23,  1900.  facing 

page 

Gordon  Hall,  Tientsin  * 13 

The  stately  building  which  was  the  refuge  of  the  Europeans 
during  the  recent  Chinese  outbreak,  damaged  during 
the  bombardment. 

The  Great  Gate  of  Peking*  ....  30 

This  tower  was  burned  by  the  Boxers. 

The  President  and  Foreign  Members  of  the 
Faculty  of  the  Imperial  University  . . 40 

The  second  from  the  right  is  Professor  James,  who  was 
murdered  by  the  Boxers. 

The  Pavilion  Entrance  to  the  British  Legation  * 73 

Where  all  the  Foreign  Ministers,  with  their  families,  took 


refuge. 

Archway  on  Ha  Ta  Men  Great  Street  . , 80 

Scene  of  Baron  Von  Ketteler’s  murder. 

A Portion  of  the  Wall  of  Peking  Held  by  the 
Allies 84 

Assault  of  the  Relief  Column  ....  105 


On  Outer  Wall  of  Peking,  from  a Japanese  painting. 


II 


12 


Illustrations 


FACING 

PAGE 


A Chinese  View  of  the  Murder  of  the  Japanese 
Chancelier no 

Regarded  by  them  as  an  execution  in  the  presence  of 
Chinese  troops  and  Boxers. 

Li  Hung  Chang* 122 

China’s  Greatest  Statesman  and  Peace  Commissioner. 

Pei  Tang,  the  French  Cathedral*  . . . 125 

Held  by  Roman  Catholics  until  relieved  by  the  Japanese. 

Colonel  Liscum  * 129 

General  Chaffee 129 

The  Central  Moat,  or  Canal,  in  the  Forbidden 
City* 139 

The  Empress  Dowager  of  China  * 149 

The  Dowager’s  Palace  near  Peking*  . . . 149 

Edwin  H.  Conger 164 

United  States  Minister  to  China. 

Monsignor  Favier  * 164 

Catholic  Bishop  of  Peking. 

Temple  of  Heaven  in  Peking*  . . . .170 

Occupied  as  a camp  by  the  British  soldiers. 


MAPS 

From  the  Pei-Ho  to  Peking*  ....  9 

A bird’s-eye  view  of  the  disturbed  area  in  China. 

Map  of  the  City  of  Peking*  ....  9 


m.nhivci ji ysiivoh  still  OKnmd  aaovwva 


THE  SIEGE  IN  PEKING 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  EIGHT  BANNERS  OF  THE  ALLIES  AND  THE 
EIGHT  OF  THE  MANCHUS 

Since  the  spring  of  this  year  the  eyes  of  the 
world  have  been  fixed  on  China  as  the  theatre 
of  a tremendous  tragedy.  Not  only  do  Chinese 
and  Tartar,  prince  and  peasant,  figure  on  the 
scene  in  court  and  camp,  but  many  nations  come 
on  the  stage  in  all  the  pomp  of  war.  It  was  a 
magnificent  spectacle,  the  gathering  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Pei  Ho  of  great  navies  from  the 
ends  of  the  earth — the  storming  of  the  Taku  forts 
for  the  third  time  in  forty  years — the  occupation 
of  Tien  Tsin  after  four  weeks  of  continual  con- 
flict, and  the  advance  on  Peking  of  a combined 
force  under  the  banners  of  eight  leading  powers. 

Sixty  years  ago  the  British  flag  appeared  alone 
in  hostile  array,  with  the  result  of  a treaty  made 
at  Nanking,  opening  five  ports  to  trade,  resi- 


13 


14  The  Siege  in  Peking 

dence,  and  missionary  enterprise.  Forty  years 
ago  the  flags  of  Great  Britain  and  France  were 
united  in  an  expedition,  which  opened  the 
capital  to  the  residence  of  foreign  envoys, 
added  greatly  to  the  list  of  open  ports,  and 
opened  up  the  whole  country  to  the  influence 
of  Western  ideas.  Five  years  ago  China  was 
humbled  in  the  dust  by  hitherto  despised  neigh- 
bors that  had  grown  strong  by  the  adoption  of 
those  ideas.  The  banner  of  the  Rising  Sun 
now  appears  along  with  those  of  seven  great 
powers  of  the  West,  once  more  thundering  at 
the  gates  of  the  Celestial  Empire. 

All  the  world  asks  the  meaning  of  this  un- 
precedented movement.  What  motive  could  be 
so  potent  as  to  compel  those  powers  to  bury 
their  political  animosities  and  to  unite  in  one 
expedition?  The  answer  is  in  one  word,  Hu- 
manity. Humanity  has  been  outraged,  and 
every  nation  of  the  earth  either  sends  a con- 
tingent to  avenge  the  wrong  or  sympathizes 
with  those  that  send.  Had  America,  Austria, 
Britain,  France,  Germany,  Italy,  Japan,  and 
Russia  sought  for  a classic  motto  to  inscribe  on 
their  banners,  they  could  hardly  find  a more 
fitting  expression  of  the  feeling  that  led  them 
to  merge  their  several  aims  and  rival  creeds  in 


The  Eight  Banners 


15 


one  common  purpose  than  the  famous  line  of 
Terence,  “ Homo  sum  ct  nihil  humani  a me  alienum 
puto,” — I am  a man,  and  nothing  human  is 
foreign  to  me. 

Within  the  walls  of  Peking  are  cooped  up  the 
ministers  of  eleven  nations  (those  above-named 
with  the  addition  of  Holland,  Belgium,  and 
Spain)  along  with  their  people  to  the  number 
of  a thousand  men,  women,  and  children,  and 
menaced  with  the  horrors  of  an  indiscriminate 
slaughter.  The  besiegers  were  not,  as  they 
have  been  represented  by  Chinese  diplomacy,  a 
howling  mob  that  had  overpowered  the  imperial 
government,  but  an  organized  army  under  the 
orders  of  the  government.  Documentary  evi- 
dence will  be  adduced  in  the  sequel,  amply  suf- 
ficient to  prove  the  complicity  of  the  Chinese  (I 
ought  to  say  Manchu)  Government.  By  mak- 
ing war  on  all  who  hold  to  principles  of  human 
progress,  it  has  placed  itself  beyond  the  pale  of 
civilization,  and  forfeited  the  respectable  posi- 
tion which  it  formerly  occupied  among  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth. 

If  history  be  ransacked  in  quest  of  a parallel  for 
the  siege  of  the  legations,  it  will  not  be  found  in 
Mafeking  or  Ladysmith,  for  Christian  was  there 
pitted  against  Christian.  They  had  only  to  lay 


l6  The  Siege  in  Peking 

down  their  arms  to  insure  the  best  of  treatment. 
To  find  something  akin  in  its  savage  barbarity 
you  must  go  back  to  Lucknow,  where  a mixed 
multitude  shut  up  in  the  Residency  were  hold- 
ing out  against  fearful  odds  in  expectation  of 
relief  by  Havelock’s  Highlanders,  resolved  to 
perish  of  starvation  rather  than  surrender,  for 
the  fate  of  Cawnpore  stared  them  in  the  face. 

It  adds  point  to  this  parallel  to  remember  that 
the  Tartar  rulers  of  China  are  cousin  german  to 
the  Great  Mogul  who  headed  the  Sepoy  Mutiny. 

It  was  some  excuse  for  the  King  of  Delhi  that 
he  was  seeking  to  regain  his  throne.  No  such 
apology  can  be  offered  for  the  Empress  Dowager 
of  China.  She  has  made  war  not  without  prov- 
ocation, but  wholly  unjustifiable,  on  all  nations 
of  the  civilized  world.  Allying  herself  with  the 
powers  of  darkness,  she  entered  into  a diabolical 
conspiracy,  and  sanctioned  unheard-of  atrocities 
in  order  to  keep  her  people  in  ignorance  and  to 
shield  her  family  from  the  competition  of  su- 
perior light  and  knowledge.  It  is  one  more  ex- 
hibition of  the  conflict  of  Ahriman  and  Ormuz, 
the  eternal  war  between  the  spirit  of  darkness 
and  the  God  of  light. 

To  understand  the  causes  of  this  complicated 
struggle,  and  to  forecast  its  outcome,  it  may  not 


The  Eight  Banners  17 

be  amiss  to  give  separate  attention  to  some  of 
the  parties  to  the  conflict,  especially  to  those  that 
emerge  from  the  dark  cloud  that  rests  on  the  Far 
East — the  Emperor  and  party  of  progress ; the 
Empress  Dowager,  and  the  reactionaries,  the 
Boxers,  and  their  associates.  Three  motives 
have  combined  to  bring  about  this  astounding 
upheaval : Political  jealousy,  religious  antagon- 
ism, and  industrial  competition.  The  first  is  ex- 
emplified in  the  action  of  the  Tartars,  who,  being 
an  alien  race,  have  always  shown  themselves 
suspicious  of  everything  which  tends  to  augment 
the  prestige  of  foreigners  within  their  territory. 
The  second,  if  a fetish  superstition  may  be  dig- 
nified by  the  name  of  religion,  may  be  seen  in  the 
obscure  origin  of  this  Boxer  propaganda.  The 
third  is  shown  in  the  progress  of  that  secret  so- 
ciety when,  transformed  into  a political  party,  it 
destroyed  the  products  of  foreign  machinery  be- 
cause they  interfered  with  the  slow-going  meth- 
ods of  an  ignorant  people.  If  the  reader  be 
impatient  for  the  harrowing  incidents  of  the 
siege,  he  may  skip  a few  of  the  ensuing  chapters  ; 
but  there  is  reason  to  fear  that  he  will  not  find 
the  situation  by  any  means  as  lucid  as  it  might 
otherwise  be  made. 

Curiously  enough,  the  Tartars  of  Peking,  like 


18  The  Siege  in  Peking 

the  Allied  Powers,  are  ranged  under  eight  ban- 
ners. From  the  beginning  of  their  dynasty  they 
have  been  known  to  the  Chinese  as  Pachi — the 
eight  banners — ever  since  they  passed  the  great 
wall  and  marched  on  Peking  two  hundred  and 
fifty-six  years  ago;  nor  is  the  number  of  their 
tribal  divisions  the  only  point  of  resemblance 
worthy  of  notice.  The  errand  on  which  they 
first  appeared  before  the  gates  of  Peking  was  not 
unlike  that  of  our  eight  nationalities,  viz. : “ Res- 
cue or  Vengeance.” 

In  1644  the  city  was  invested  by  a horde  of 
rebels  led  by  a bloodthirsty  wretch  named  Li 
Chuang.  The  Emperor,  a Chinese  of  the  House 
of  Ming,  knowing  that  resistance  was  hopeless, 
hanged  himself  on  a hill  overlooking  his  capital, 
after  stabbing  his  daughter  to  the  heart  as  a last 
proof  of  paternal  affection.  (How  many  fathers 
were  prepared  to  give  the  same  proof  of  affection 
in  the  extremity  of  our  recent  siege !) 

Wu  San  Kwei,  a general  in  command  on  the 
frontier  of  Manchuria,  hearing  the  fate  of  his 
master — learning,  too,  that  his  own  family  had 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  rebel  chief — called  on 
the  Manchus  to  aid  him  in  the  expulsion  of  the 
usurper  and  the  punishment  of  his  crime.  On 
the  approach  of  the  Tartars  the  rebels  fled,  but 


The  Eight  Banners 


19 


the  Tartars,  on  being  paid  off,  refused  to  retire. 
It  was  the  old  story  of  the  ass  that  begged  a 
primitive  man  to  mount  his  back  and  drive  a 
horned  stag  away  from  his  pasture-field  when, 
to  his  surprise,  he  found  himself  the  slave  of  his 
ally.  In  this  case  the  Tartar  tribes  were  in  the 
saddle.  Why  should  they  dismount  simply  be- 
cause the  Chinese  requested  them  to  do  so? 

The  tables  are  now  turned.  It  is  the  Tartars 
who  are  chased  away  from  the  pasture-field. 
Foreign  powers  are  in  the  saddle.  Will  the 
eight  Powers  whose  banners  now  wave  over  the 
ruins  of  Peking  be  more  easily  satisfied?  Will 
they  withdraw  at  a sign  from  Li  Hung  Chang, 
and  leave  their  work  unfinished?  In  spite  of 
diplomatic  assurances  to  the  contrary,  similar 
conditions  are  sure  to  produce  similar  results. 
Some  at  least  of  the  eight  banners  will  be  slow 
to  abdicate  their  commanding  position.  They 
have  put  curb  and  bit  in  the  mouth  of  the  Chinese 
donkey,  and,  judging  from  present  appearances, 
they  are  not  unlikely  to  persist  in  riding  the 
noble  beast. 

This  and  other  questions  as  to  right  and  policy 
meet  us  on  the  threshold,  but  we  are  compelled 
to  postpone  their  discussion  while  we  ask  the 
reader  to  follow  the  eight  banners  of  the  Man- 


20 


The  Siege  in  Peking 

chus  in  their  occupation  of  China.  Not  only  is 
such  retrospect  essential  to  the  comprehension 
of  recent  events,  for  more  than  one  lesson  which 
might  be  useful  to  our  statesmen  is  to  be  gleaned 
from  the  experience  of  the  Manchus. 

The  first  that  suggests  itself  is  the  ease  with 
which  the  Chinese  may  be  subdued.  The  sec- 
ond is  like  unto  it,  viz.,  the  facility  with  which 
they  may  be  governed  by  a foreign  power. 
Patient,  industrious,  and  unwarlike,  they  were 
made  to  be  ruled  by  others.  As  a matter  of  fact, 
they  have  actually  been  under  the  sway  (more  or 
less  complete)  of  different  hordes  of  Tartars  for 
seven  centuries  out  of  the  last  fifteen.  From  386 
to  532  of  our  era  an  extensive  region  in  Northern 
China  was  subjected  to  the  house  of  Toba. 
From  907  to  1234  the  Kin  Tartars,  or  Golden 
horde,  whom  the  Manchus  claim  as  ancestors, 
held  possession  of  the  Northern  Provinces.  They 
were  displaced  by  the  Mongols  of  Genghis  and 
Kublai  Khan,  who  extended  their  power  to  the 
remotest  bounds  of  the  empire,  and  almost  at  the 
same  time  brought  India  beneath  their  yoke, 
constituting  perhaps  the  most  extended  do- 
minion that  had  ever  fallen  to  the  lot  of  a single 
race.  After  an  interval  of  one  native  dynasty 
the  Manchus,  as  we  have  said,  got  possession  of 


21 


The  Eight  Banners 

the  throne,  and  they  have  held  it  from  1644  to 
1900,  a date  which  in  all  probability  marks  the 
end  of  their  domination. 

Instances  of  invasion  not  ending  in  conquest 
are  too  numerous  to  mention.  At  the  dawn  of 
history  we  find  the  Chinese,  like  the  Egyptians, 
harassed  by  Shepherd  Kings  from  the  North. 
The  great  Wall,  over  fifteen  hundred  miles  in 
length,  hugest  of  tin  works  of  man,  was  erected 
to  keep  them  out  as  early  as  240  B.c.  When 
completed  it  was  described  by  a historian  as  the 
“ ruin  of  one  generation,  but  a bulwark  of  safe- 
ty to  all  that  were  to  follow.”  Would  that  op- 
timistic author  have  pronounced  such  an  en- 
comium had  he  foreseen  the  many  centuries  of 
subjection  to  Tartar  sway  undergone  by  his  peo- 
ple since  that  epoch  ? 

To  overrun  portions  of  China  has  always  been 
an  easy  task  for  those  fierce  nomads,  but  to  re- 
tain their  conquest  required  more  than  martial 
prowess.  “ I won  the  empire  on  horseback,” 
said  one  of  those  conquerors  to  a statesman  who 
besought  him  to  encourage  the  milder  arts. 
“ Can  you  govern  it  on  horseback  ? ” was  the 
pregnant  question  that  served  for  a reply. 

To  secure  permanence  of  possession  it  has  al- 
ways been  necessary  for  them  to  adopt  the  civ- 


22 


The  Siege  in  Peking 

ilization  (such  as  it  is)  of  their  Chinese  subjects. 
By  employing  Chinese  methods  in  their  admin- 
istration they  have  in  many  instances  achieved 
complete  success.  This  is  the  second  of  the 
important  lessons  suggested  by  their  history. 

The  Manchus  have  done  this  more  thoroughly 
than  any  of  their  predecessors,  becoming  per- 
haps more  Chinese  than  the  Chinese  themselves ; 
for,  while  the  Chinese  have  shown  themselves 
accessible  to  new  ideas,  the  Manchus,  having 
espoused  the  civilization  of  China,  have  distinctly 
refused  to  exchange  it  for  that  of  the  West.  Yet, 
despite  the  shocking  reversion  to  barbarism 
which  marks  the  close  of  their  history,  it  may  be 
safely  affirmed  that  no  native  dynasty  ever  gov- 
erned the  country  with  more  wisdom.  What 
they  have  been  able  to  do,  is  it  unwise  for  a 
European  power  to  undertake? 

Sir  Michael  Hicks-Beach  is  reported  to  have 
said  in  Parliament  that  “ it  would  be  madness  for 
Great  Britain  to  attempt  the  administration  of 
any  part  of  China.” 

Has  not  British  administration  converted  the 
colony  of  Hong-Kong  from  a barren  rock  into 
the  richest  emporium  of  the  Far  East?  Are  not 
the  Chinese,  of  all  peoples,  the  easiest  to  govern, 
and  are  not  the  British  confessedly  the  ablest 


23 


The  Eight  Banners 

administrators  of  foreign  dependencies?  As  to 
the  possibility  of  a foreign  power  governing 
China,  the  experiment  of  the  Anglo-French  Al- 
liance, which  for  a short  time  in  i860  governed 
the  province  of  Canton  through  native  authori- 
ties, is  highly  instructive ; and  the  experience  of 
the  Manchus  during  two  and  a half  centuries 
ought  to  be  conclusive. 

Though  but  a handful  in  comparison  with 
their  present  numbers,  it  took  them  only  seven 
years  to  bring  all  the  Eighteen  Provinces  into 
subjection.  Their  sway  began  with  a female 
Regent,  as  it  appears  not  unlikely  to  terminate 
with  a female  Regency.  The  armies  of  the  first 
Regent  were  conducted,  and  her  Cabinet  was 
controlled,  by  Amawang,  a brother  of  her  de- 
ceased husband.  Her  infant  son,  on  ascending 
the  throne  in  the  first  year  of  occupation,  re- 
ceived the  significant  title  of  Shunchi,  “ the 
prosperous  reign.”  Prosperous  his  reign  cer- 
tainly was  for  his  people,  but  his  enjoyment  of  it 
was  brief,  as  he  died  at  the  age  of  twenty-four. 

His  son  was  the  illustrious  Kang  Hi,  who 
reigned  sixty-one  years,  or  a little  more  than  a 
Chinese  cycle,  leaving  behind  him  so  great  a 
reputation  for  wisdom  and  goodness  that  he  was 
canonized  by  the  title  of  “ Sheng  Tsu  Jin  ” — 


24  The  Siege  in  Peking 

sage  and  benevolent.  Such  was  bis  avidity 
for  knowledge  that,  while  making  himself  mas- 
ter of  the  learning  of  the  Middle  Kingdom,  he 
reached  out  after  the  sciences  of  the  West,  re- 
ceiving with  honor  at  his  Court  the  Roman 
Catholic  missionaries,  who  a few  years  earlier 
had  gone  to  China  as  pioneers  of  a higher  science 
and  a better  faith.  Not  merely  did  he  take  les- 
sons in  geometry  and  astronomy ; he  appears  to 
have  been  favorably  disposed  toward  Christian- 
ity. Two  things,  however,  inspired  him  with  an 
aversion  which  he  bequeathed  to  his  successors. 

After  having  expressed  an  opinion  as  to  the 
identity  of  Shang  Ti,  “ the  supreme  ruler,”  with 
the  Christians’  God,  and  again  as  to  the  purely 
ceremonial  character  of  ancestral  worship,  he 
had  the  mortification  to  see  his  views  set  aside 
by  a decree  of  the  Pope  condemning  the  worship 
of  ancestors  as  idolatrous  and  forbidding,  as 
pagan,  the  use  of  the  name  Shang  Ti,  the  God  of 
the  ancient  sages.  What  was  perhaps  more  try- 
ing to  his  pride,  he  learned  that,  in  order  to  be- 
come a Christian,  he  must  begin  by  acknowledg- 
ing the  supremacy  of  the  Pope.  Is  it  surprising 
that  his  writings  betray  a growing  alienation 
from  the  teachings  of  the  missionaries?  Those 
teachings  are  condemned  in  one  of  his  Sixteen 


The  Eight  Banners  25 

Maxims,  a compend  of  orthodoxy  committed  to 
memory  by  Chinese  school-boys. 

His  son,  Yung  Cheng,  became,  as  might  be 
expected,  a bitter  persecutor  of  the  new  faith. 
Of  Yung  Cheng,  who  reigned  thirteen  years, 
nothing  further  needs  to  be  said;  though,  like 
Julian  the  Apostate,  in  spite  of  his  character  as 
a relentless  persecutor,  perhaps  for  that  very 
reason  he  enjoys  the  reputation  of  being  a 
sovereign  of  exceptional  ability. 

The  son  of  Yung  Cheng  was  Chien  Lung,  the 
Magnificent.  Happy  in  the  possession  of  a 
submissive  empire,  this  monarch  sought  to  ce- 
ment the  ties  between  sovereign  and  subject  by 
making  frequent  journeys  to  ascertain  the  state 
of  his  people.  On  such  occasions  he  usually 
left  an  autograph  poem  (for  he  was  no  mean 
poet)  inscribed  on  a granite  slab  to  commemo- 
rate the  visit.  One  of  these  effusions  that  I 
have  seen  at  a Temple  on  the  western  hills  may 
be  rendered  as  follows : 

Why  have  I scaled  this  misty  height, 

Why  sought  this  mountain  den  ? 

I tread  as  on  enchanted  ground, 

Unlike  the  abode  of  men. 

Weird  voices  in  the  trees  I hear, 

Weird  visions  see  in  air, 


26 


The  Siege  in  Peking 

The  whispering  pines  are  living  harps 
And  fairy  hands  are  there. 

Beneath  my  feet  my  realm  I see 
As  in  a map  unrolled. 

Above  my  head  a canopy 
Bedecked  with  clouds  of  gold. 

When  he  had  wielded  the  sceptre  for  a full 
cycle  he  abdicated,  because,  as  he  said,  it  would 
be  unfilial  to  surpass  his  grandfather  in  the  dura- 
tion of  his  reign.  Did  he  not  reflect  how  unfilial 
he  had  been  in  allowing  himself  to  live  longer 
than  his  father? 

Kia  Ching,  the  next  in  order,  held  the  throne 
only  half  as  long,  and  left  an  unsavory  name 
as  a votary  of  pleasure. 

His  son,  Taou  Kwang,  reigned  thirty  years, 
treading  in  the  footsteps  of  Kanghi.  He  it  was 
who  first  attempted  to  suppress  the  growing  vice 
of  opium-smoking.  When  the  loss  of  revenue 
was  employed  as  an  argument  to  deter  him  from 
his  purpose  he  exclaimed,  with  virtuous  indig- 
nation, “ Heaven  forbid  that  I should  derive 
profit  from  the  vices  of  my  subjects.” 

This  good  prince  was  unfortunate  in  the  agent 
whom  he  selected  to  carry  out  his  humane  de- 
cree. The  Viceroy  Lin,  haughty  and  overbear- 
ing, employed  unjustifiable  measures  to  obtain 


2? 


The  Eight  Banners 

possession  of  the  forbidden  drug,  giving  just 
ground  for  reprisals  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain. 
To  save  himself  the  trouble  of  capturing  the 
opium  ships  which  lay  beyond  the  harbor,  he  sur- 
rounded the  whole  foreign  quarter  at  Canton 
with  soldiery,  and  threatened  the  lives  of  all 
foreigners,  without  distinction  of  nationality,  in 
case  of  refusal  to  surrender  the  drug.  Sum- 
moned by  the  Superintendent  of  Trade  to  deliver 
up  as  the  only  means  of  escape,  the  merchants 
handed  it  over  to  the  Queen’s  representative  to 
be  used  as  a ransom  for  the  lives  of  the  com- 
munity. Her  Majesty  was  accordingly  pledged 
to  make  good  their  loss.  To  punish  this  high- 
handed proceeding,  and  to  exact  the  promised 
indemnity  were  the  objects  of  Britain’s  first  war 
with  China,  not  at  all  to  force  the  Chinese  either 
to  receive  opium  or  to  consume  it. 

With  antiquated  arms,  and  destitute  of  dis- 
cipline, the  Chinese  troops  were  repeatedly 
vanquished.  Had  Sir  Henry  Pottinger  pushed 
his  campaign  to  Peking,  instead  of  signing  a 
treaty  at  Nanking,  he  might  have  taken  posses- 
sion of  the  whole  empire  instead  of  the  little 
island  of  Hong-Kong.  The  world  would  then 
have  seen  once  more  the  spectacle  of  India  and 
China  united  under  the  sceptre  of  a foreign  race. 


28  The  Siege  in  Peking 

The  shortest  reign  in  the  history  of  the  dynasty 
was  that  of  Hien  Fung,  who,  ascending  the 
throne  in  1850,  saw  his  capital  in  the  power  of 
foreigners  at  the  end  of  a decade,  and  fled  to 
Mongolia  to  find  a grave.  One  of  the  wives 
who  accompanied  his  flight  was  the  now  famous 
(or  infamous)  Dowager  Empress. 

Her  history  comprehends  the  reign  of  her  son, 
Tung  Chi,  thirteen  years,  and  that  of  her  adopted 
son,  Kwang  Su,  twenty-six  years.  Both  will  be 
treated  in  a subsequent  chapter.  Suffice  to  say, 
that  under  the  Manchus,  the  frequent  collisions 
with  foreign  powers,  ranging  from  local  riots  up 
to  serious  wars,  are  mainly  attributable  to  the 
fact  that  they  are  themselves  foreigners,  having 
got  the  empire  by  force  and  treachery.  They 
suspect  other  nations  of  a desire  to  supplant 
them.  Commercial  ports,  as  they  believe,  are 
established  for  this  purpose;  religion  is  propa- 
gated to  gain  the  hearts  of  the  natives;  schools 
and  newspapers  tend  to  render  the  Chinese  dis- 
loyal. The  privilege  of  carrying  on  these  enter- 
prises, commercial  and  missionary,  was  extorted 
by  force,  and  by  force  it  ought  to  be  revoked. 
This  was  the  advice  given  by  a Cabinet  Minister 
to  the  unfortunate  Hien  Fung  on  his  accession 
in  1850, 


29 


The  Eight  Banners 

“ Let  it  be  your  aim,”  said  an  old  counsellor 
— too  old  to  learn  anything  new — “ let  it  be  your 
aim  to  re-establish  the  old  restrictions  all  along 
the  coast.” 

At  the  beginning  of  his  reign  Hien  Fung  saw 
his  southern  capital  seized  by  the  Taiping  rebels, 
a body  of  fanatics  who  professed  a sort  of  mon- 
grel Christianity.  Toward  its  end  one  of  his 
arrogant  Viceroys,  by  summarily  executing  a 
boat’s  crew  who  were  sailing  under  the  British 
flag,  involved  him  in  war  with  England  and 
France. 

Is  it  not  strange  that  up  to  the  present  time 
the  Manchus  have  failed  to  learn  the  futility  of 
their  attempt  to  expel  the  hated  foreigners  ? 
They  had  been  beaten  by  England,  later  by  Eng- 
land and  France  together,  then  by  Japan  unaided 
by  other  powers.  Is  it  not  astonishing  that  they 
should  still  plan  a general  massacre,  which  was 
certain  to  provoke  the  hostility  of  all  nations? 
Sometimes  we  have  seen  a young  bull,  the  mas- 
ter of  a grazing  herd,  resent  the  intrusion  of  a 
locomotive  on  his  pasture-grounds.  He  places 
himself  on  the  track  in  an  attitude  of  defiance,  but 
when  the  train  sweeps  by  all  that  remains  of  him 
is  a mangled  corpse.  Barnum’s  Jumbo,  power- 
ful as  he  was,  perished  miserably  in  making  a 


30  The  Siege  in  Peking 

similar  attempt.  Thus  has  it  happened  to  the 
Banner  men  of  Manchuria.  Swept  away  by  the 
Eight  Banners  of  the  great  Powers  the  Manchu 
Government  lies  prostrate,  and  appears  to  be 
crushed  beyond  a possibility  of  reconstruction. 

In  treating  further  of  this  conflict  between 
darkness  and  light  we  must  draw  a broad  dis- 
tinction between  the  Chinese  and  their  Manchu 
rulers.  The  former  are  misguided,  the  latter 
treacherous  and  implacable.  Among  the  Man- 
chus,  again,  it  is  necessary  to  distinguish  between 
a progressive  Emperor  and  the  anti-foreign 
Empress  Dowager.  The  advisers  of  the  former 
in  the  work  of  reform  were  exclusively  Chinese. 
The  instigators  of  the  latter  in  her  bloody  reac- 
tion were  chiefly  Manchus. 


TIIE  GREAT  GATE  OF  PEKING. 

THIS  TOWER  WAS  BURNED  BY  THE  BOXERS. 


CHAPTER  II 


THE  EMPEROR  AND  THE  REFORM  PARTY 

In  the  young  Emperor,  now  in  the  thirtieth 
year  of  his  age,  reposes  the  only  hope  for  even 
a temporary  restoration  of  the  Manchu  dynasty. 
With  features  as  delicate  as  those  of  a woman, 
and  physical  frame  deficient  in  vigor,  he  pos- 
sesses a mind  singularly  acute  and  a heart 
capable  of  being  moved  by  the  wants  of  his  peo- 
ple. He  alone  among  the  occupants  of  the 
Dragon  Throne  during  the  present  dynasty  has 
exhibited  a sufficient  breadth  of  comprehension 
and  superiority  to  national  prejudice  to  desire  to 
accommodate  his  government  to  the  new  civ- 
ilization of  the  West.  Stripped  of  power  for  be- 
ing an  ardent  patron  of  progress,  he  possesses  a 
peculiar  claim  on  our  sympathy.  Nor  is  he  to 
be  held  in  any  degree  responsible  for  the  out- 
rages that  have  been  perpetrated  in  his  name. 
In  fact  he  is  rather  to  be  regarded  as  himself  the 
first  victim  on  a long  and  sanguinary  list. 

His  predecessor,  Tung  Chi,  only  son  of  the 


31 


32  The  Siege  in  Peking 

Dowager  Empress,  died  at  the  age  of  eighteen 
in  1874.  Too  young  to  display  independence 
of  character,  Tung  Chi  had  been  governed  by  his 
mother,  not  merely  during  his  long  minority,  but 
she  continued  to  exercise  her  influence  over  the 
policy  of  his  government  even  after  her  Regency 
had  been  terminated  by  a formal  proclamation. 

Nothing  is  so  well  adapted  to  perpetuate  his 
memory  as  the  manner  of  his  death.  In  the  win- 
ter of  that  year  a transit  of  Venus  was  to  take 
place.  More  than  a century  prior  to  that  date 
Captain  Cook  had  made  his  notable  voyage  to 
the  South  Sea  for  the  purpose  of  observing  a 
similar  phenomenon  with  a view  to  ascertaining 
the  sun’s  parallax.  In  1874  two  American  as- 
tronomers, Professor  Watson  of  Michigan  and 
Professor  Young  of  Princeton  University,  ap- 
peared in  Peking  for  the  same  object — there  be- 
ing no  spot  on  the  globe  where  it  could  be  seen 
with  equal  advantage,  and  no  amount  of  pains 
being  deemed  too  great  to  verify  our  standard 
for  measuring  the  magnitudes  of  the  universe. 

True  to  the  calculated  time  a black  spot  was 
seen  travelling  across  the  disk  of  the  sun.  Two 
days  later  the  Emperor  succumbed  to  an  attack 
of  small-pox,  or,  as  rumor  had  it,  pox  of  a more 
loathsome  description.  Heaven  had  foreshad- 


The  Emperor  and  the  Reform  Party  33 

owed  the  event,  said  the  people,  for  was  not  the 
sun  the  emblem  of  masculine  Majesty?  And 
did  not  the  blot  on  the  visage  of  Old  Sol  portend, 
or  rather  depict,  the  precise  malady  to  which  the 
Son  of  Heaven  was  destined  to  fall  a victim? 
The  popular  mind  became  intensely  excited,  and 
the  secretaries  at  our  legation  thought  it  advis- 
able to  smuggle  the  astronomers  and  their  in- 
struments out  of  the  city  in  the  gloaming  of  even- 
ing, with  as  much  secrecy  as  possible.  They  had 
been  seen  erecting  what  looked  like  a battery,  and 
mounting  upon  it  something  that  had  the  ap- 
pearance of  cannon,  and  aiming  those  long  tubes 
at  the  emblem  of  Majesty.  It  was  inevitable 
that  the  ignorant  populace  should  hold  them  re- 
sponsible for  the  calamity  which  fell  upon  the 
Imperial  house. 

To  flatter  the  young  man’s  mother  the  doctors 
of  the  Hanlin  Academy  composed  for  him  an 
obituary  record,  which  made  him  out  to  be  a 
paragon  of  every  virtue,  proposing  for  his  post- 
humous title  the  name  “ E Hwang  Te,”  mean- 
ing The  Heroic  Emperor.  Yet  no  act  in  his 
short  life  has  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  pub- 
lic which  suggests  the  idea  of  heroism. 

The  bereaved  parent,  resuming  her  Regency, 
cast  about  for  a young  prince  to  adopt,  not  as 


34 


^The  Siege  in  Peking 


heir  presumptive  to  the  throne  but  as  titular 
sovereign.  Among  the  candidates  available  she 
naturally  selected  the  youngest,  like  the  lady 
who,  on  being  asked  why  she  had  married  so  old 
a man,  replied  that  she  never  had  but  two  offers 
— both  old — and  she  naturally  chose  the  oldest. 
The  infant  chosen  for  this  high  dignity  was  a child 
of  three  years,  the  son  of  the  Dowager’s  sister, 
and  the  seventh  brother  of  Hien  Fung.  She 
gave  him  the  reigning  title  of  Kwang  Su,  mean- 
ing Illustrious  Successor,  and  he  is  now  in  the 
twenty-sixth  year  of  his  reign.  During  one-half 
of  that  period  she  exercised  a Regency  on  the 
ground  of  his  immaturity,  and  now  for  a third 
time  she  assumes  to  exercise  it  on  the  ground  of 
his  incapacity.  Well  might  he  have  merited  his 
illustrious  title  had  he  been  permitted  to  carry 
out  his  scheme  of  reform. 

In  her  earlier  days  his  Imperial  guardian  was 
not  herself  such  an  enemy  to  progress  as  she 
afterward  became.  As  a proof  of  liberal  tenden- 
cies may  we  not  cite  the  fact  that  the  young 
Emperor  was  early  set  to  the  study  of  the  Eng- 
lish language?  Two  of  my  students  were  se- 
lected for  his  instructors.  Special  lessons  were 
compiled  by  them  for  his  Majesty’s  use,  and,  in 
'order  to  be  sure  of  their  correctness,  those  les- 


The  Emperor  and  the  Reform  Party  35 

sons  were  submitted  to  me.  I might,  therefore, 
plead  guilty  of  having  given  some  bias  perhaps 
to  the  Imperial  mind.  Nothing  is  more  prob- 
able than  that  he  derived  his  first  impulse  in  the 
direction  of  progress  from  his  study  of  English. 
Yet  the  honor  of  having  converted  the  ease-lov- 
ing student  into  an  ardent  reformer  is  due  above 
all  others  to  the  Cantonese  doctor,  Kang  Yu 
Wei. 

In  Chinese  scholarship  the  Emperor  distin- 
guished himself  by  uncommon  proficiency.  How 
could  it  be  otherwise  when  he  had  for  his  in- 
structors a dozen  or  more  of  the  most  eminent 
scholars  of  the  empire  ! Of  these  the  best  known 
was  the  Grand  Secretary,  Wung  Tung  Ho,  who 
specially  befriended  Kang  Yu  Wei  and  recom- 
mended him  to  the  Emperor  as  a “ thousand 
times  more  clever  than  myself.” 

A reform  party  is  to  be  found  in  most  coun- 
tries, and  at  all  times.  Whether  it  possesses  in- 
fluence or  not  depends  largely  on  the  object 
toward  which  it  is  directed.  In  China  the  lead- 
ing aim  of  the  reform  party  was  to  strengthen 
the  country  by  the  adoption  of  Western  meth- 
ods. Unhappily,  the  Chinese  in  general  were 
not  convinced  of  their  weakness — nor  were  they 
inclined  to  take  institutions,  the  mushroom 


36  The  Siege  in  Peking 

growth  of  yesterday,  in  preference  to  those  that 
bore  the  imprint  of  hoary  antiquity. 

As  early  as  the  close  of  the  first  war  with  Eng- 
land in  1842  there  were  not  a few  Mandarins 
who  advocated  this  policy  on  the  principle,  Fas 
est  ab  hoste  doccri.  For  a time  their  efforts  did 
not  go  beyond  the  compilation  or  translation  of 
a few  books,  mostly  historical  or  geographical,  or 
both  combined,  with  a view  to  acquainting  China 
with  the  existence  of  other  countries  beyond  her 
borders.  One  such  collection,  well  known  under 
the  name  of  “ Hai  Kwo  Tu  Chi,”  a description 
of  trans-oceanic  nations,  was  made  by  the  un- 
fortunate Viceroy  Lin,  who  had  provoked  the 
war,  and  for  having  done  so  was  sent  into  exile. 
Another,  called  “ Ying  Hwan  Chi  Lio,”  a de- 
scriptive history  of  the  globe,  was  compiled  by 
Su  Ki  Yu,  the  Governor  of  Fokien  Province. 
So  frank  was  this  Governor  in  expressing  his  ad- 
miration for  foreigners  and  their  methods  that 
the  Government,  deeming  him  an  unfit  man  to 
be  intrusted  with  the  destinies  of  a Province,  re- 
moved him  from  his  post  and  sent  him  into  pri- 
vate life. 

The  information  contained  in  his  book  he  sets 
to  the  credit  of  the  missionary,  Abeel.  Yet  in 
rearranging  his  materials  he  occasionally  dis- 


The  Emperor  and  the  Reform  Party  37 

plays  a touch  of  originality,  such  as  for  example 
the  statement  that  Rhode  Island  is  noted  for  the 
possession  of  a “ colossal  statue  so  huge  that  it 
spans  the  harbor  and  allows  ships  to  pass  be- 
tween its  legs.” 

The  defeat  of  China  in  a second  war  in  i860 
lifted  this  persecuted  party  into  sudden  prom- 
inence. Schools  were  established  for  the  lan- 
guages and  sciences  of  the  West.  Youths  were 
sent  abroad  for  education,  and  poor  old  Su  Ki  Yu, 
by  way  of  compensation,  was  made  a member  of 
the  Tsung  Li  Yamen,  the  newly  organized  Board 
of  Foreign  Affairs.  In  recognition  of  his  su- 
perior knowledge  he  was  likewise  appointed 
Director  of  the  Tung  Wen  College,  a school 
opened  by  the  Foreign  Board ; dans  Ic  royaume 
dcs  avcugles  les  borgnes  sont  rois.  A work  on  the 
physical  sciences  which  I prepared  for  the  use  of 
that  school  was  printed  at  the  expense  of  the 
Board,  and  sent  forth  with  a laudatory  preface 
from  his  pen. 

About  the  same  time  Dr.  Yung  Wing,  of  Can- 
ton, a graduate  of  Yale  College,  was  charged 
with  the  supervision  of  a select  body  of  youth  to 
be  educated  at  the  fountain-heads  of  Western 
learning.  They  were  sent  to  Hartford  in  suc- 
cessive relays,  two  or  three  hundred  in  all, 


38  The  Siege  in  Peking 

and  continued  there  until  they  were  finally 
recalled  on  suspicion  of  having  learned  too 
much. 

Foreign  legations  were  now  for  the  first  time 
established  in  Peking,  and  exercised  an  educa- 
tional influence  on  the  government.  In  this  di- 
rection their  first  and  perhaps  their  most  im- 
portant result  was  to  induce  the  Chinese  to  send 
legations  to  the  West. 

Before  venturing  on  a step  so  revolutionary 
they  desired  first  to  explore  the  ground.  For 
this  purpose  they  despatched  to  Europe  and 
America  the  so-called  “ CEcumenical  Embassy,” 
headed  by  Anson  Burlingame,  who  had  been  our 
first  Minister  to  Peking.  He  was  a man  of  broad 
views  and  marvellous  magnetism,  qualities  which 
gave  him  an  ascendancy  over  his  diplomatic  col- 
leagues, leading  them  to  adopt  at  that  early  date 
a “ co-operative  policy,”  which  greatly  resembles 
that  so  successfully  advocated  to-day  by  Secre- 
tary Hay.  He  also  attracted  the  statesmen  of 
China,  who  selected  him  to  initiate  their  diplo- 
matic intercourse  with  the  Western  world.  In 
this  embassy  he  was  supported  by  two  col- 
leagues, one  a Manchu,  the  other  a Chinese,  and 
accompanied  by  a number  of  students,  mostly 
Manchus  from  the  Tungwen  College,  who  were 


The  Emperor  and  the  Reform  Party  39 

sent  abroad  to  complete  such  studies  as  they  had 
begun  in  China. 

The  reform  movement  had  thus  far  been  con- 
fined to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge.  Nothing 
like  reform  in  internal  administration  had  been 
attempted.  A sort  of  reconstruction  of  army  and 
navy  had,  it  is  true,  been  commenced,  accom- 
panied by  the  erection  of  arsenals  and  the  pur- 
chase of  munitions  of  war,  but  reform  in  any 
other  sense  was  deemed  a word  of  ill-omen. 
Their  old  institutions,  like  the  Ark  of  the  Cov- 
enant, were  things  too  sacred  to  be  touched. 

After  the  ill-starred  war  with  Japan  many  of 
the  leading  Mandarins,  especially  the  junior 
members  of  the  Hanlin  Academy,  became  con- 
vinced that  China  required  a thorough-going 
reformation.  Reform  clubs  were  openly  estab- 
lished in  the  capital.  Their  members  were  the 
elite  of  the  literati.  A thrashing  at  the  hands  of 
a people  whom  they  stigmatized  as  dwarfs  and 
held  in  hereditary  contempt  produced  tenfold 
as  deep  an  impression  as  defeat  by  European 
powers.  “ Inferior  to  us  in  past  ages,”  so  rea- 
soned these  reformers,  “ what  could  have  ren- 
dered these  Japanese  so  formidable  ? What  but 
the  wholesale  adoption  of  European  methods, 
for  which  they  have  been  so  unjustly  ridiculed. 


4o 


The  Siege  in  Peking 


Why  should  not  China,  laying  aside  her  an- 
tipathy, follow  in  their  footsteps  ? ” The  ex- 
pression of  this  sentiment  created  alarm  at  a still 
conservative  Court.  The  reform  clubs  were  not 
openly  suppressed,  but  they  were  placed  under 
surveillance  and  their  name  changed. 

In  time  the  work  of  reform  was  taken  in  hand  by 
the  Emperor  himself,  under  the  influence,  as  we 
have  said,  of  Kang  Yu  Wei.  It  was  pushed  with 
a zeal  which  alarmed  and  astonished  the  empire. 
Innovations  succeeded  each  other  with  startling 
rapidity.  The  civil  service  examinations  were 
ordered  to  be  revolutionized,  a system  of  graded 
schools  was  to  be  created.  The  neglected  chil- 
dren of  the  common  people  were  to  be  gathered 
into  schools,  for  the  use  of  which  the  idol  tem- 
ples were  to  be  appropriated.  Schools  for  min- 
ing, commerce,  and  agriculture  were  to  be  estab- 
lished, as  well  as  middle  and  higher  schools  of 
the  ordinary  type.  A new  university  was  to 
crown  this  pagoda  of  many  stages,  in  which  the 
sons  of  the  nobility  were  expected  to  acquire  the 
science  and  the  spirit  of  the  modern  world.  The 
old  test  of  fitness  for  office,  consisting  in  elegance 
of  penmanship  and  correctness  of  rhythm  in  es- 
says and  sonnets,  was  to  be  set  aside,  and  in  its 
place  rigorous  examinations  required  in  sciences 


OF  THE  IMPERIAL  UNIVERSITY 


The  Emperor  and  the  Reform  Party  41 

and  practical  arts.  Nor  did  the  Emperor’s 
sweeping  changes  stop  here.  He  suppressed 
useless  tribunals,  encouraged  the  multiplication 
of  newspapers,  and  sought  to  bestow  upon  his 
people  the  inestimable  privilege  of  free  speech. 

This  whole  scheme  resembles  that  which  has 
wrought  in  recent  times  such  a wonderful  trans- 
formation in  the  empire  of  Japan.  From  Japan 
it  was  in  fact  derived,  as  Kang  Yu  Wei  himself 
confessed,  he  having  insisted  upon  copying  as 
far  as  possible  the  example  of  that  country.  It 
is,  therefore,  not  very  remotely  traceable  to  the 
United  States. 

When  Marquis  Ito  recently  visited  Peking  I 
felt  myself  justified  in  complimenting  him  on  the 
obvious  fact  that  Japan  was  exerting  a greater 
influence  in  the  way  of  reform  in  China  than  any 
other  nation,  adding  “ much  as  the  moon,  which 
is  our  nearest  neighbor,  raises  a higher  tide  than 
the  sun,  which  is  more  remote.”  I fear  the  Mar- 
quis did  not  feel  flattered  by  a compliment  which 
implied  that  his  country  shone  by  borrowed 
light. 

Though  the  educational  scheme  was  outlined 
by  Kang  Yu  Wei,  the  suggestion  of  the  univer- 
sity is  mainly  due  to  Li  Hung  Chang.  Trusted 
minister  as  he  is  of  the  Empress  Dowager,  he  is, 


42  The  Siege  in  Peking 

or  has  been,  one  of  the  most  progressive  states- 
men  of  the  empire.  He  it  was  who,  during  his 
long  Viceroyalty  in  the  North,  established  at 
Tien  Tsin  those  schools  for  army  and  navy 
which  have  been  so  conspicuous  in  their  influ- 
ence on  China.  More  than  any  other  man  he 
has  a right  to  be  described  as  a patron  of  modern 
education. 

When  the  Rev.  Gilbert  Reid  solicited  his  aid 
for  his  proposed  International  Institute,  “ Stop 
awhile,”  said  Li,  “ you  must  first  help  me  with 
my  scheme  for  a university.” 

When  the  Emperor  finally  sanctioned  the  pro- 
posal it  was  Li  who,  in  conjunction  with  another 
Grand  Secretary,  Sun  Kia  Nai,  nominated  me 
for  the  presidency. 

The  reformers  in  many  instances  took  mis- 
sionaries— notably,  Dr.  Allen,  Rev.  Timothy 
Richard,  and  the  Rev.  Gilbert  Reid — into  their 
counsel.  Dr.  Allen  has  led  the  way  in  Chinese 
journalism,  and  to  show  the  effect  of  this  won- 
derful awakening  it  only  needs  to  be  stated  that, 
while  in  1895  there  were  in  China  only  nineteen 
newspapers,  in  1898  there  were  no  fewer  than 
seventy-six.  Mr.  Richard,  if  not  a pioneer  in  the 
diffusion  of  books  of  useful  knowledge,  has,  fol- 
lowing in  the  footsteps  of  Alexander  William- 


The  Emperor  and  the  Reform  Party  43 

son,  done  more  than  any  other  man  to  promote 
their  distribution.  While  at  the  former  date  the 
sales  from  the  book-stores  of  the  Useful  Knowl- 
edge Society  amounted  only  to  $800,  in  1898  the 
receipts  had  risen  to  $18,000. 

The  Emperor,  in  his  wish  to  encourage  free 
speech,  did  not  confine  himself  to  newspapers. 
He  authorized  all  his  officials  to  address  him 
freely  on  the  subject  of  reforms.  To  his  desire 
to  emancipate  his  people  from  the  restrictions 
under  which  they  had  always  labored  he  owes  his 
downfall. 

A junior  member  of  the  Board  of  Rites,  which 
has  the  superintendence  of  education  and  re- 
ligion, had  prepared  a memorial  on  desired  re- 
forms in  those  departments,  submitting  it  first 
to  the  chiefs  of  the  Board.  They  refused  to  for- 
ward it  to  his  Majesty.  The  Emperor  was  en- 
raged that  they  should  dare  to  intervene  between 
him  and  any  of  his  progressive  officials.  He  de- 
prived them  of  office.  Those  old  conservatives, 
burning  with  shame  for  their  disgrace,  hastened 
away  to  the  country  palace  and  threw  themselves 
at  the  feet  of  the  Empress  Dowager,  imploring 
her  to  resume  her  Regency  in  order  to  save  the 
empire  from  the  furious  driving  of  this  young 
Phaeton,  who  was  in  danger  of  setting  the  world 


44  The  Siege  in  Peking 

on  fire.  She  listened  to  their  prayer,  and,  strik- 
ing him  as  with  a thunderbolt,  entered  upon  her 
reactionary  career.  She  began  by  requiring  him 
to  address  to  her  a humble  petition  confessing 
his  incapacity  and  imploring  her  to  teach  him 
“ how  to  govern  his  people.” 

Kang  Yu  Wei  and  some  of  his  associates,  be- 
ing warned  by  the  Emperor,  made  good  their 
escape,  but  six  of  them  were  brought  to  the 
block,  and  many  others  followed  at  no  great  in- 
terval. The  programme  of  reform  was  blotted 
out  with  the  blood  of  its  advocates.  This  was 
the  coup  d'etat  of  August,  1898. 

Exit  Emperor — enter  Empress  Dowager. 


CHAPTER  III 


THE  EMPRESS  DOWAGER  AND  HER  CLIQUE 

This  is  the  third  time  the  Dowager  has  come 
on  the  stage  in  the  character  of  Regent.  May  not 
the  young  Emperor  reappear  once  more  in  the 
character  of  reformer,  clothed  with  a portion  at 
least  of  his  former  authority?  What  an  oppor- 
tunity was  thrown  away  when  the  foreign  Min- 
isters in  Peking  declined  to  uphold  him,  and 
allowed  an  ambitious  woman  to  reverse  the  di- 
rection of  his  policy.  Yet  they  ought  not  to  be 
censured  for  maintaining  the  role  of  passive  on- 
lookers— the  coup  d'etat  having  been  effected 
without  great  bloodshed,  and  without  any  pre- 
monition of  the  disastrous  convulsions  for  which 
it  prepared  the  way. 

In  i860  they  committed  a worse  blunder  by 
reinstating  this  same  woman,  who  then,  as  now, 
had  fled  from  an  invading  force,  and  aiding  her 
in  the  suppression  of  a more  magnificent  reform. 
I allude  to  the  Taiping  rebels.  Imbued  with 
principles  borrowed  from  the  religion  of  the 
45 


46  The  Siege  in  Peking 

West,  and  established  at  the  southern  capital, 
where  they  were  easy  of  access,  those  insurgents, 
if  favored  by  foreign  nations,  would  have  shown 
themselves  amenable  to  good  influences.  Pagan- 
ism would  have  been  swept  away,  and  with  it 
a permanent  cause  of  conflict  with  Christian 
powers,  while  a vigorous  native  power  would 
have  been  set  up  in  place  of  an  old  decaying 
dynasty  of  foreign  origin. 

A still  better  thing  might  have  been  for  Eng- 
land and  France  to  divide  China  at  that  epoch, 
and  forestall  the  complications  attendant  on  the 
greater  number  of  claimants  who  are  now  com- 
peting for  power,  influence,  or  territory.  On 
some  of  these  questions  opinions  may  differ,  but 
in  view  of  subsequent  events  there  is  no  room  to 
doubt  that  it  would  have  been  good  policy  to 
sustain  the  Emperor  in  his  attempt  to  renovate 
the  empire.  Instead  of  a capital  in  ashes,  and  a 
nation  debased  to  barbarism,  what  an  impetus 
would  have  been  given  to  all  kinds  of  improve- 
ment and  what  horrors  would  have  been  averted ! 

The  best  apology  for  want  of  foresight  is  that 
the  Chinese  themselves  appeared  to  acquiesce  in 
the  usurpation.  It  was  in  appearance  only,  as 
we  afterward  learned  from  sundry  appeals  on 
behalf  of  the  Emperor,  as  well  as  from  threats  ol 


The  Empress  Dowager  and  Her  Clique  47 

rebellion  in  case  of  violence  to  his  person. 
Diplomacy,  with  all  its  vaunted  skill,  is  at  best 
a succession  of  happy  (or  unhappy)  accidents,  a 
series  of  blind  attempts  to  penetrate  the  future. 
Of  Him  who  holds  in  His  hand  the  arcana  of 
destiny  is  it  not  said  “ that  He  maketh  diviners 
mad  ” ? Not  only  were  our  diplomatic  repre- 
sentatives unable  to  see  within  the  veil ; by  the 
usage  of  nations  they  were  precluded  from  ab- 
jecting  to  a change  of  administration  which  had 
the  appearance  of  being  acceptable  to  the  people. 

Before  proceeding  with  our  narrative  a retro- 
spect of  the  Dowager’s  romantic  and  eventful 
career  will  not  be  out  of  place. 

One  piece  of  romance  originating  some  five 
years  ago  in  a New  York  Sunday  paper  may  at 
once  be  pricked  with  the  needle  of  truth.  I re- 
fer to  the  story  of  her  being  originally  a Canton 
slave-girl — presented  to  the  Emperor  by  one  of 
his  Tartar  generals  who  had  returned  from  that 
city.  Her  family  is  well  known  in  Peking.  Her 
brother,  lately  deceased,  was  Duke  Chao.  Her 
sister  married  a younger  brother  of  Hien  Fung, 
and  if  further  proof  were  required  I may  add 
that  Dr.  Pritchard,  an  English  medical  mission- 
ary, being  called  in  to  prescribe  for  the  ducal 
family,  was  asked  to  bring  with  him  his  wife,  and 


48  The  Siege  in  Peking 

on  that  occasion  both  he  and  Mrs.  Pritchard  had 
the  honor  of  being  served  with  tea  by  the  hand 
of  a venerable  white-haired  lady  who  was  mother 
of  the  Empress  Dowager. 

Outside  of  the  family  of  Duke  Chao,  the  Dow- 
ager has  an  extensive  connection,  embracing  sub- 
divisions of  two  or  three  of  the  Eight  Banners. 
Some  years  ago  she  received  them  all  as  her 
family  relatives,  sans  ceremonic,  at  a temple  near 
the  great  East  Gate.  In  the  palace  she  was  Em- 
press, and  very  few  of  them  were  high  enough  to 
be  admitted  to  her  presence.  Here  she  was  one 
of  them,  and  she  made  them,  feel  that  the  ties  of 
kindred  were  not  forgotten.  Justice  requires 
that  we  should  chronicle  this  good  trait  in  a 
woman  who  since  then  has  shown  herself  to  be 
such  a monster  of  iniquity. 

Before  she  was  twenty  she  became  secondary 
wife  of  the  Emperor  Hien  Fung,  and  had  given 
him  an  heir  to  the  throne.  His  consort  being 
childless  he  was  overjoyed  by  the  birth  of  a son, 
and,  to  signalize  his  satisfaction,  he  raised  the 
young  mother  to  equal  rank  with  Consort  No.  1, 
assigning  her  a palace  on  the  west  not  inferior 
to  that  of  her  colleague  on  the  east. 

Beautiful,  gifted,  and  well  educated,  she 
adorned  her  new  position.  When  in  1861  it 


The  Empress  Dowager  and  Her  Clique  49 

came  to  a joint  Regency,  Tse  An,  “ the  daughter 
of  peace,”  was  quite  eclipsed  by  her  brilliant  col- 
league, Tse  Hi,  “ the  daughter  of  joy.”  In  the 
previous  year  they  had  both  fled  to  Tartary  with 
their  lord  011  the  approach  of  the  allies.  Whether 
the  stubborn  Tse  Hi  prompted  him  to  fly  rather 
than  submit,  it  is  impossible  to  determine ; but 
such  a course  would  not  have  been  out  of  keep- 
ing with  what  we  now  know  of  her  obstinate, 
unyielding  character.  Had  her  character  been 
different  would  she  not  have  taken  warning  by 
her  former  hegira,  and  made  peace  in  good  time 
to  save  her  capital  ? 

On  that  occasion  she  was  the  leading  spirit  in 
the  joint  Regency ; with  Prince  Kung,  brother  of 
her  deceased  husband  as  Prime  Minister,  a post 
which  he  won  by  taking  the  lives  of  two  other 
princes,  as  he  gave  out  in  order  to  preserve  that 
of  the  infant  Emperor.  Her  recent  flight  was, 
therefore,  not  her  first.  Is  it  not  remarkable  that 
she  should  live  to  repeat  the  experience  after  a 
lapse  of  forty  years?  Instead  of  being  taught 
caution  in  the  school  of  adversity  she  seems  to 
have  been  emboldened  and  embittered. 

At  a summer  palace  rebuilt  for  her  use  on  the 
Hill  of  Longevity,  overlooking  the  beautiful 
Kwenming  Lake,  she  had  before  her  the  spec- 


50  The  Siege  in  Peking 

tacle  of  the  ruins  of  the  Yuenming-yucn,  the 
most  sumptuous  abode  of  Oriental  majesty, 
where  she  had  dwelt  in  the  heydey  of  youth — • 
it  was  too  costly  for  an  impoverished  govern- 
ment to  undertake  its  restoration — nor  did  the 
view  tend  to  propitiate  her  feelings  toward  the 
authors  of  its  destruction.  Here,  on  the  borders 
of  the  lake,  she  lived  in  nominal  retirement  on 
laying  down  her  second  Regency  some  fifteen 
years  ago,  but  never  for  a day  did  she  cease  to 
concern  herself  in  affairs  of  state,  or  to  exert  po- 
litical influence  through  the  medium  of  the  Em- 
peror. Was  he  not  her  adopted  son?  Did  he 
not  owe  his  elevation  to  her  choice?  She  was 
resolved  that  he  should  not  forget  these  obliga- 
tions, and,  by  way  of  keeping  them  in  mind,  she 
required  him  to  visit  her  once  in  five  days  at  the 
distance  of  fifteen  miles,  and  to  knock  his  head 
or  perform  the  kotow  at  her  feet. 

At  all  times  a power  behind  the  throne,  the 
part  he  took  in  administration  was  clearly  indi- 
cated in  a decree  that  appeared  some  months  be- 
fore the  coup  d’etat,  in  which  the  Emperor  re- 
quires all  great  officers  throughout  the  realm  to 
render  thanks  for  their  appointment  to  the  Dow- 
ager as  well  as  to  himself.  He  had  never  ceased 
to  consult  her  in  regard  to  such  appointments. 


The  Empress  Dowager  and  Her  Clique  51 

Was  it  not  natural  that,  on  returning  to  power, 
she  should  require  him  to  issue  a decree  inviting 
her  to  “ teach  him  how  to  govern  ” ? 

In  the  eyes  of  most  of  her  subjects  her  inter- 
vention was  not  merely  justifiable — it  was  im- 
perative. She  was  not  known  as  conservative  in 
any  objectionable  sense.  Had  she  not  led  the 
way  in  encouraging,  or  at  least  permitting,  her 
people  to  learn  the  arts  of  the  West?  After 
forty  years  of  experience,  was  there  any  danger 
that  she  would  adopt  an  opposite  policy?  She 
herself  denied  that  she  was  actuated  by  hostility 
to  progress.  Said  she,  in  an  edict  explaining  her 
position : “ When  we  have  been  choked  it  does 
not  follow  that  we  are  to  cease  eating,  merely  for 
fear  it  may  happen  again.” 

She  meant  to  say  that  the  Emperor  had 
crammed  his  reform  down  the  throats  of  his  sub- 
jects with  dangerous  haste.  She  only  wished  to 
give  them  time  to  digest  their  aliment. 

In  another  edict  she  forbade  any  further  search 
to  be  made  for  the  accomplices  of  Kang  Yu  Wei, 
because,  as  she  said,  she  abhorred  the  shedding 
of  her  people’s  blood.  It  is  not  surprising  that 
the  world  was  led  to  credit  her  with  a degree  of 
amiable  humanity  as  well  as  prudent  moderation. 
How  insincere  were  her  professions  in  both  ut- 


52  The  Siege  in  Peking 

terances  will  appear  from  the  intemperate  zeal 
which  she  soon  displayed  in  undoing  what  had 
been  done  by  the  Emperor,  and  in  pursuing  the 
alleged  conspirators. 

These  tendencies  were  not  at  once  apparent, 
especially  as  her  past  record  was  such  as  to  in- 
spire confidence.  This  time,  however,  she  had 
taken  the  reins  into  her  hands  with  the  avowed 
intention  of  undoing  the  Emperor’s  work.  Re- 
versing the  engine  (to  change  the  figure)  the 
train  began  to  move  on  the  back  track,  slowly  at 
first,  but  gradually  attaining  a furious  velocity 
that  rendered  a smash-up  inevitable. 

This  tendency  was  not  perceived  by  some  of 
the  Emperor’s  most  trusted  Ministers.  The 
High  Commissioner  Sun,  for  instance,  when  a 
few  days  after  the  coup  I called  on  him  with  a 
list  of  nominations  to  chairs  in  the  new  univer- 
sity, declined  to  take  action  until  he  should  have 
an  audience  with  the  Dowager,  not  knowing 
whether  he  might  not  himself  be  dismissed  from 
office  or  subjected  to  some  heavier  penalty.  A 
few  days  later,  satisfied  on  this  point,  he  sanc- 
tioned them  all  and  assured  me  there  would  be 
no  change  of  policy  as  to  the  educational 
programme. 

Marquis  Ito  had  just  arrived  from  Japan,  at- 


The  Empress  Dowager  and  Her  Clique  53 

tracted  no  doubt  by  the  Emperor’s  professed  de- 
sire to  copy  the  example  of  that  island  empire. 
Our  High  Commissioner  and  the  Metropolitan 
Prefect  united  in  giving  him  an  entertainment, 
inviting  Li  Hung  Chang  to  meet  him.  They 
also  invited  me  as  president  of  the  university — 
the  only  Occidental  present  on  that  occasion. 
The  conversation  turned  wholly  on  the  subject 
of  reform  in  Japan.  The  Marquis  related  how, 
returning  from  his  studies  in  England  over  thirty 
years  ago,  he  was  asked  by  the  Prince  of  Chosiu 
if  he  thought  it  would  be  needful  to  change  any- 
thing in  the  political  or  social  life  of  Japan. 
“ Yes,”  he  replied,  “ everything  must  be 
changed.” 

So  successful  had  he  been  in  effecting  reforms 
in  Japan  that  it  was  hoped  he  might  be  retained 
in  Peking  as  adviser  for  a moderate  course  of 
reform  in  China,  such  as  might  be  carried  out 
without  provoking  a revolution.  He  had  not 
come  with  any  such  expectation.  Needless  to 
say,  his  advice  was  not  sought  for  by  the  reac- 
tionary government. 

Reactionary  measures  began  at  length  to 
appear  in  the  Official  Gazette  by  heaps  and 
clusters.  The  old  examination  system  for  the 
civil  service  was  confirmed.  The  creation  of 


54  The  Siege  in  Peking 

common  schools  was  countermanded.  The 
Bureaus  of  Mines,  Commerce,  and  Agriculture 
were  suppressed.  Official  sinecures  were  re- 
stored. 

Almost  the  only  progressive  institution  left 
standing  was  the  new  university.  Whether  this 
was  due  to  Li  Hung  Chang  having  been  its  ad- 
vocate, or  to  Yung  Lu  becoming  its  protector, 
or  to  both,  certain  it  is  that  it  appeared  to  be  in 
no  danger  of  suppression  at  the  hour  of  the  out- 
break. New  buildings  were  in  process  of  erec- 
tion, and  the  appointment  of  new  professors 
authorized  up  to  that  very  date.  Time-serving 
censors  had  denounced  it,  but  Yung  Lu  came  for- 
ward to  defend  it,  saying  that  “ to  suppress  the 
university  would  be  a disgrace  in  the  eyes  of 
foreign  nations.” 

In  the  way  of  social  progress  a very  striking 
innovation  took  place,  under  the  direct  influence 
of  the  Empress  Dowager.  For  her  it  was  a mas- 
ter stroke  of  policy,  filling  the  ladies  of  the  lega- 
tions with  delight  and  securing  their  powerful 
influence  in  her  favor.  In  former  years  they  had 
never  been  received  at  Court,  but  the  Dowager 
now  thought  fit  to  intimate  her  willingness  to 
receive  them. 

The  Emperor  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  re- 


The  Empress  Dowager  and  Her  Clique  55 

ceived  the  Ministers,  as  he  had  always  been  wont 
to  do,  to  present  the  congratulations  of  the  sea- 
son. They  found  him  taciturn,  depressed,  and 
apparently  suffering  in  health.  What  wonder, 
when  he  was  no  more  than  the  shadow  of  his 
former  self,  serving  then,  as  he  has  continued 
to  do,  for  a mere  pictorial  representation  of 
majesty. 

Being  a woman,  the  Dowager,  with  all  her  self- 
assertion,  did  not  venture  to  call  the  Embassa- 
dors into  her  presence.  Such  proceeding  would, 
without  doubt,  have  resulted  in  a counter  revo- 
lution producing  an  earthquake  shock  through- 
out the  empire.  In  lieu  thereof  she  thought  she 
might  arrive  at  the  same  object  by  admitting  the 
ladies  of  the  legations.  Perhaps,  too,  she  was  not 
entirely  free  from  being  influenced  by  feminine 
curiosity.  Those  who  were  invited  did  not  fail 
to  accept,  nor  had  they  any  reason  to  decline,  as 
thus  far  the  Dowager  had  not  in  any  way  be- 
trayed her  savage  nature. 

She  treated  them  with  most  engaging  conde- 
scension, and  bestowed  a little  souvenir  on 
each — a talisman  to  cherish  kindly  sentiments 
and  bind  them  to  her  party.  The  ladies  de- 
scribed her  manners  as  charming,  and  her  ap- 
pearance, done  up  as  she  was,  as  that  of  a woman 


56  The  Siege  in  Peking 

of  thirty,  though  she  was  then  not  far  from  sixty- 
five. 

So  far  from  displaying  anti-foreign  sentiments 
in  the  formation  of  her  policy,  the  Regent  took 
pains  to  conciliate  foreign  powers.  Of  this,  a 
striking  proof  was  the  readiness  with  which  she 
yielded  to  the  demand  of  the  French  Minister 
that  the  privileges  of  official  rank  in  the  Man- 
darinate  should  be  granted  to  Roman  Catholic 
missionaries  according  to  their  rank  and  stand- 
ing in  the  church. 

In  domestic  affairs  she  had,  it  is  true,  begun 
to  persecute  the  party  of  reform,  and  to  pursue 
its  leaders  with  relentless  severity.  For  this  her 
excuse  was  that  they  had  plotted  against  her — 
an  excuse  abundantly  valid  according  to  Chinese 
precedent ; for  any  such  action  on  their  part  con- 
stituted treason  in  the  eyes  of  the  administration. 

It  is  believed  that  her  suspicions  were  not  ill- 
founded  ; that  the  young  Emperor,  prompted  by 
his  advisers,  had  even  despatched  General  Yuen 
with  secret  orders  to  take  the  life  of  the  Viceroy 
Yu  Lu,  a main  supporter  of  her  cause.  On  the 
way  to  Tien  Tsin  he  suddenly  changed  his  mind, 
and,  instead  of  the  point  of  a poniard,  he  pre- 
sented the  Viceroy  with  the  reverse  end  of  an 
arrow  which  he  carried  as  symbol  of  his  com- 


The  Empress  Dowager  and  Her  Clique  57 

mission  to  take  the  Viceroy’s  life.  By  his  de- 
fection the  success  of  the  coup  d’etat  was  assured. 
He  has  accordingly  since  then  been  one  of  the 
Dowager’s  trusted  favorites,  and  now  holds  the 
high  office  of  Governor  of  Shantung. 

The  hints  sometimes  thrown  out  that  in  her 
earlier  years  she  had  arrived  at  undivided  sway, 
first  by  disposing  of  her  lord  and  then  by  setting 
aside  his  consort,  are  unworthy  even  of  refuta- 
tion, nor  is  it  to  be  credited  that  she  had  any  de- 
signs on  the  life  of  the  young  Emperor,  whom 
she  found  it  so  convenient  to  employ  as  a tool. 
He  serves  her  for  a figure-head,  and  in  his  name 
she  has  put  forth  her  most  objectionable  decrees. 
Had  she  put  him  out  of  the  way  she  must  have 
found  it  necessary  to  adopt  a successor.  This 
she  was  able  to  do  without  the  perpetration  of 
'such  a crime.  The  Emperor,  being  childless, 
she  announced  at  the  beginning  of  this  year  her 
decision  to  adopt  as  son,  and  successor  to  her 
son,  the  son  of  Prince  Tuan,  grandson  of  an  elder 
brother  of  Hien  Fung. 

This  lad,  Pu  Chun  by  name,  was  fourteen 
years  of  age,  in  the  direct  line  of  succession,  and 
nothing  would  be  easier  than  to  have  the  Em- 
peror abdicate  in  his  favor  as  soon  as  she  might 
deem  it  desirable  to  do  so. 


58  The  Siege  in  Peking 

The  adoption  of  the  great  Aga,  as  the  heir  to 
the  throne  is  familiarly  called,  raised  his  father, 
previously  almost  unknown,  to  sudden  prom- 
inence. Personally  Prince  Tuan  seems  to  have 
been  in  the  confidence  of  the  Dowager,  and  since 
then  he  has  controlled  her  counsels,  while  in  re- 
lation to  all  the  grandees  of  the  empire  he  has 
enjoyed  the  prestige  inseparable  from  one  who 
is  father  to  a reigning  monarch — so  soon  was  Pu 
Chan  expected  to  succeed  to  the  Dragon 
Throne. 

That  which  appeared  to  bring  about  an  un- 
favorable change  in  her  foreign  policy  was  the 
occurrence  of  repeated  aggressions  on  her  terri- 
tory by  foreign  powers.  When  Germany  ob- 
tained the  cession  of  Kiao  Chao,  under  circum- 
stances which  will  be  explained  in  the  next  chap- 
ter, Russia  at  once  insisted  on  being  permitted 
to  occupy  the  seaport  of  Port  Arthur  as  terminus 
for  her  Siberian  railroad.  England,  always  on 
the  alert  to  check  the  advance  of  the  Northern 
power,  demanded  a seaport  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  Gulf  of  Pechili.  France,  unwilling  to  be 
left  out  in  the  cold,  asserted  her  pretensions  as 
the  equal  of  any  of  the  great  powers,  and  in  the 
name  of  the  balance  of  power  insisted  on  obtain- 
ing the  seaport  of  Kwang  Chao,  between  Can- 


The  Empress  Dowager  and  Her  Clique  59 

ton  and  her  Annamite  dependencies.  Italy,  too, 
scoured  the  coast  of  Chekiang  in  quest  of  a con- 
venient port  to  occupy. 

At  each  step  in  this  series  the  haughty  Regent 
became  more  infuriated,  ordering  that  prepara- 
tions should  everywhere  be  made  for  resisting 
invasion,  and  openly  expressing  her  will  that  in 
case  of  any  attempt  to  encroach  further  on  Chi- 
nese territory  she  would  engage  in  war,  no  mat- 
ter which  or  how  many  powers  might  be  con- 
cerned. At  this  juncture  the  Boxer  agitation 
hove  in  sight,  and  she  welcomed  it  as  a heaven- 
sent auxiliary. 

That  movement  now  claims  our  attention,  and 
with  it  the  fate  of  the  Dowager  is  inseparably 
bound  up. 

Never  has  her  character  been  so  much  dis- 
cussed as  during  this,  her  third  Regency.  She 
has  been  compared  to  Elizabeth  of  England  and 
to  Catherine  of  Russia,  but,  in  my  opinion,  for 
her  the  fittest  prototype  is  Jezebel  of  Samaria, 
who  slaughtered  the  prophets  of  the  Lord,  and 
rioted  with  the  priests  of  Baal. 


CHAPTER  IV, 


THE  BOXERS  AND  THEIR  ALLIES 

Those  Boxers  are  not,  as  represented,  a new 
body  called  into  existence  by  the  missionary 
work  in  China.  They  are,  on  the  contrary,  an 
old  association,  a kind  of  Masonic  order,  which 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  Government  more 
than  a century  ago. 

In  1803  they  were  placed  on  the  index  as  a 
prohibited  association  by  the  Emperor  Kia 
Ching,  on  account  of  their  tendency  to  cause 
trouble  in  the  state.  They  originated  in  a some- 
what benighted  corner  of  Shan  Tung,  and  after 
this  interdict  they  languished  in  obscurity  until 
they  were  quickened  into  life  by  contact  with 
Europeans.  Their  creed  takes  its  shape — 

“ If  shape  that  may  be  called  which  shape  has  none 
Distinguishable  in  member,  joint  or  limb  ” — 

from  a blending  of  the  three  religions  of  Buddha, 
Laotse,  and  Confucius,  together  with  all  sorts  of 
60 


The  Boxers  and  Their  Allies  61 

popular  superstitions.  They  profess  certain 
mysteries  of  their  own,  such  as  hypnotism,  and 
to  this  they  owe  the  fascination  which  they  exer- 
cise over  the  ignorant.  Meeting  with  susceptible 
persons  they  employ  them  as  mediums,  and 
through  them  in  a state  of  trance  they  obtain 
communications  from  their  gods.  Many  of 
them  possess  the  power  of  throwing  themselves 
into  this  abnormal  state  at  will.  In  drilling  for 
war  all  their  soldiers  (for  the  most  part  very 
young  persons)  are  expected  to  do  this,  as  well 
as  to  practise  pugilism  and  other  antics.  I have 
myself  seen  them  drilling,  though  I did  not 
venture  to  remain  long  enough  in  their  midst 
to  take  photographs  with  a camera.  Riding  in 
the  street  one  day,  a lad  apparently  of  sixteen 
ran  across  in  front  of  my  horse,  threw  himself 
on  a bank,  and  went  into  a trance.  I was  tempted 
to  wait  to  see  what  would  follow,  but,  reflecting 
that  on  coming  out  of  this  hypnotic  state  he 
would  probably  attack  me  and  so  bring  on  a riot, 
I thought  it  prudent  to  move  on.  On  the  eve  of 
an  encounter  they  kneel  down  and  bow  them- 
selves toward  the  southeast,  which  is  the  direc- 
tion from  Peking  of  Southern  Shan  Tung,  where 
they  originated.  Having  invoked  the  protection 
of  their  gods,  accompanied  by  hocus-pocus  forms, 


62 


The  Siege  in  Peking 

they  believe  themselves  invulnerable ; a belief  no 
doubt  due  to  the  fact  that  in  a hypnotic  condition 
they  are  insensible  to  outward  impressions,  and 
no  longer  conscious  of  pain. 

When  recently  Catholic  missionaries  pene- 
trated their  stronghold,  a collision  was  inevitable, 
and  two  of  them,  Germans  by  nationality,  were 
murdered.  This  provoked  the  intervention  of 
the  Kaiser,  who  not  only  exacted  the  execution 
of  three  of  the  murderers  but  profited  by  the  oc- 
currence to  get  possession  of  a seaport  in  that 
quarter. 

The  people  of  the  province  were  greatly  ex- 
cited, not  so  much  perhaps  by  territorial  aggres- 
sion as  by  their  opposition  to  railway  lines,  which 
the  Germans  commenced  laying  out.  In  many 
instances  they  tore  up  the  track  and  attacked  the 
engineers.  The  Boxers  became  at  once  trans- 
formed from  a Masonic  fraternity  into  a great 
political  organization.  Their  propaganda  spread 
like  wildfire.  Bands  of  youths  were  to  be  seen 
undergoing  their  mysterious  discipline  in  every 
hamlet,  nor  were  they  confined  to  the  stronger 
sex. 

A special  branch  was  created  for  the  young 
women  of  the  province — a feature  the  more  re- 
markable on  account  of  the  jealousy  with  which 


The  Boxers  and  Their  Allies  63 

Chinese  women  are  ordinarily  kept  in  seclusion. 
One  of  their  war-songs  commences  thus : 

“ We,  the  brothers  of  the  Long  Sword,  will  lead  the 
van ; 

Our  sisters  of  the  Red  Lantern  will  bring  up  the  rear 
guard.* 

Together,  we  will  attack  the  barbarians, 

And  drive  them  into  the  sea.” 

Their  designation  of  Brothers  of  the  Long 
Sword  is  due  to  the  patronage  afforded  them  by 
Yu  Hien,  a Manchu  Governor,  who,  desiring  to 
oppose  the  Germans  in  their  railway  enterprise, 
found  the  fittest  instruments  among  these  fanati- 
cal Boxers.  Calling  them  into  his  Yamen  he 
had  them  perform  in  his  presence,  and,  becom- 
ing apparently  convinced  of  the  reality  of  their 
pretensions,  he  distributed  among  them  a num- 
ber of  long  swords,  the  only  weapon  for  which 
they  expressed  a wish. 

They  were  not  long  in  learning  to  use  them. 
Not  only  were  railway  engineers  and  missionary 
stations  attacked,  but  Christian  villages  were 
everywhere  laid  waste.  The  foreign  represent- 

* If  anyone  doubt  that  Chinese  women  are  easily  infected 
by  a martial  spirit  let  him  consider  the  fact  that  the  Taiping 
rebels  formed  female  brigades,  as  these  later  fanatics  have 
done.  An  extremely  popular  ballad,  called  Mulon  the  Maiden 
Chief,  affords  evidence  of  the  same  thing.  See  Appendix. 


64  The  Siege  in  Peking 

atives  at  Peking  demanded  the  removal  of  the 
Governor,  and  he  was  replaced  by  Chang  Yao, 
a Chinese  general  who  proceeded  vigorously 
against  the  Boxers,  making  it  so  hot  for  them 
that  they  crossed  the  boundary  into  the  neigh- 
boring province  of  Chilhi,  where  Peking  is  situ- 
ated, and  where  the  Manchu  viceroy  was  known 
to  be  their  friend. 

Chang  Yao’s  fidelity  to  his  commission  gave 
offence  to  the  Court,  and  he  was  in  turn  replaced 
by  the  time-serving  Yuen,  who  in  many  instances 
has  shown  himself  capable  of  playing  a double 
part. 

Yu  Hien,  on  arriving  at  the  capital,  was  dec- 
orated with  a breast-plate  bearing  the  monogram 
for  “ Happiness,”  written  by  the  elegant  pencil 
of  the  Dowager  herself,  meaning  no  doubt  that 
he  had  been  the  happy  discoverer  of  an  auxiliary 
force.  He  was  then  transferred  to  the  Governor- 
ship of  Shan  Si,  where  he  has  since  imbrued  his 
hands  in  the  blood  of  more  than  fifty  mission- 
aries. At  his  instance  the  leaders  of  the  Boxers 
were  called  to  the  capital  and  admitted  to  the 
palace  of  Prince  Tuan,  father  of  the  Heir  Ap- 
parent, who,  on  seeing  their  performances,  be- 
came himself  a convert,  and  has  since  continued 
to  be  their  ardent  patron. 


The  Boxers  and  Their  Allies  65 

The  Dowager,  at  Tuan’s  suggestion  doubtless, 
allowed  them  to  give  her  an  ocular  demonstra- 
tion of  their  supernatural  powers.  She  also 
seems  to  have  had  her  doubts  dispelled,  if  she 
had  any,  as  from  that  moment  she  gave  them 
free  scope,  and  took  good  care  that  none  of  her 
officials  should  put  any  obstruction  in  their  way. 
This  hypothesis,  and  no  other,  can  account  for 
her  readiness  to  stake  the  life  of  her  dynasty  on 
the  success  of  the  Boxers. 

Unglaube  du  bist  ?iicht  so  viel  ein  Ungeheuer, 

Als  Aberglaube  du/ 

(Of  the  twin  monsters,  unbelief  and  supersti- 
tion, the  more  monstrous  is  superstition,  ex- 
claims a German  poet.) 

General  Nieh,  a Chinese  who  commanded  the 
forces  of  the  Metropolitan  Province,  having 
killed  some  of  the  Boxers,  was  visited  with  a 
severe  reprimand.  The  Viceroy,  desirous  of 
keeping  on  good  terms  with  foreigners,  de- 
spatched troops  against  them.  Having  had  in- 
structions from  the  Empress  he  took  good  care 
that  his  troops  should  fire  over  their  heads  or 
employ  nothing  but  blank  cartridges.  None  of 
the  Boxers  were  killed.  Their  pretensions  to  in- 
vulnerability won  credence  among  the  people. 


66 


The  Siege  in  Peking 

Vast  numbers  flocked  to  their  standard,  and  they 
moved  on  like  a devastating  flood,  sweeping 
away  every  Christian  community  that  lay  in  their 
track.  Two  English  missionaries  were  killed  not 
far  from  the  capital.  One  had  been  killed  in  the 
Province  of  Shan  Tung.  How  many  Catholic 
missionaries  were  slain  I am  unable  to  say,  but 
the  number  of  converts  destroyed  by  their  merci- 
less foe  was  estimated  by  Bishop  Favier  at  not 
less  than  thirty  thousand. 

The  course  of  their  march  was  steadily  in  the 
direction  of  Peking,  for,  although  edicts  were 
from  time  to  time  issued  forbidding  their  ad- 
vance, they  were  always  secretly  encouraged  to 
go  forward — the  double-faced  Dowager  menac- 
ing them  with  one  hand,  to  please  the  foreigner; 
and  beckoning  them  with  the  other,  to  please  her- 
self and  Prince  Tuan. 

The  cause  of  the  Boxers  was  helped  by  a wide- 
spread belief  that  the  year  would  be  unlucky  be- 
cause the  Eighth  Moon  would  be  intercalary. 
Twice  in  five  years  a month  is  duplicated,  mak- 
ing thirteen  in  the  year.  It  is  not,  however,  un- 
lucky unless  it  be  the  eighth,  which  is  not  a mat- 
ter of  choice. 

I may  here  add  a reference  to  the  calendar 
which  is  not  superstition,  but  statistical.  Ac- 


The  Boxers  and  Their  Allies  67 

cording  to  the  North  China  Herald,  out  of  thirty- 
four  anti-foreign  riots  that  have  taken  place,  four- 
teen have  occurred  in  the  month  of  June.  This 
was  announced  by  way  of  warning  in  April  or 
May,  and  the  frightful  outbreak  at  the  capital 
makes  fifteen  in  the  same  month.  For  this  enor- 
mous preponderance  I can  offer  no  reason  un- 
less it  be  due  to  the  frequency  of  drought  at  that 
season,  in  conjunction  with  the  orgies  of  a three- 
days’  festival. 

One  or  two  specimens  of  the  manifestoes  issued 
by  these  Boxers  will  serve  to  show  their  animus. 
One  which  was  extensively  placarded  in  Peking 
began  thus : 

“ For  forty  years  the  foreigners  have  been 
turning  the  empire  upside  down.  They  have 
taken  our  seaports,  got  possession  of  the  admin- 
istration of  our  revenues  [referring  to  the  Cus- 
toms service],  and  they  do  despite  to  our  gods 
and  sages.” 

To  most  of  their  proclamations  they  prefix  the 
motto,  “ Uphold  the  Great  Pure  Dynasty,  and 
destroy  the  ocean  barbarians.” 

To  curry  favor  with  the  government  they  took 
the  name  of  volunteers,  and  came  to  be  recog- 
nized as  patriots,  although  they  had  no  hesita- 
tion in  ravaging  the  towns  and  destroying  the 


68 


The  Siege  in  Peking 


property  of  their  countrymen,  who  were  not  in 
any  way  connected  with  foreigners.  If  called  to 
account  for  so  doing,  they  could  always  defend 
themselves  on  the  ground  that  those  people  were 
consumers  of  foreign  goods. 

The  new  recruits  by  whom  their  ranks  were 
swelled  belonged  mostly  to  the  laboring  classes, 
and  here  the  third  motive  comes  into  play. 
Some  were  boatmen,  whose  lumbering  craft  lay 
rotting  on  the  banks  of  the  Pei  Ho,  because  they 
had  been  superseded  by  steam  navigation.  Some 
were  conductors  of  caravans  or  drivers  of  wag- 
ons, thrown  out  of  employ  by  railway  transporta- 
tion. Letter-carriers  (for  China  has  had  a rudi- 
mentary postal  system  for  many  centuries)  also 
joined  the  hostile  host,  because  they  found  them- 
selves thrown  out  of  sendee  by  new  postal 
arrangements — the  slow  transmission  of  intelli- 
gence by  foot  or  mounted  courier  being  super- 
seded by  the  telegraphic  wire.  Finally,  workers 
in  metals  and  weavers  on  hand-looms  came  in 
crowds  to  reinforce  a body  which  proposed  to 
destroy  the  products  of  Western  machinery. 
The  peasantry,  too,  were  far  and  wide  induced 
to  espouse  the  same  cause,  not  by  a fear  of  com- 
petition, but  by  a long-protracted  drought, 
which  made  it  impossible  to  sow  their  fields  or 


The  Boxers  and  Their  Allies  69 

gather  their  crops.  They  were  made  to  believe 
that  heaven  had  withheld  its  rain,  either  through 
the  diabolical  arts  of  foreigners  or  by  being  of- 
fended at  their  presence,  and  that  the  blood  of 
those  foreigners  alone  would  propitiate  the  gods. 

The  following  specimen,  of  which  thousands 
of  copies  were  scattered  at  Tien  Tsin,  is  peculiar 
in  the  prominence  assigned  to  Buddhism  : 

SACRED  EDICT. 

ISSUED  BY  THE  LORD  OF  WEALTH  AND  HAP- 
PINESS. 

“ The  Catholic  and  Protestant  religions  being 
insolent  to  the  Gods  and  destructive  of  holy 
things,  rendering  no  obedience  to  Buddhism 
and  enraging  both  Heaven  and  Earth ; the 
rain-clouds  no  longer  visit  us,  but  8,000,000 
Spirit  Soldiers  will  descend  from  Heaven  and 
sweep  the  Empire  clean  of  all  foreigners.  Then 
will  the  gentle  showers  once  more  water  our 
lands ; and,  when  the  tread  of  soldiers  and  the 
clash  of  steel  are  heard,  threatening  woes  to  our 
people,  then  the  Buddha’s  Patriotic  League  of 
Boxers  will  protect  the  Empire  and  bring  peace 
to  all. 

“ Hasten,  then,  to  spread  this  doctrine  far  and 
wide ; for,  if  you  gain  one  adherent  to  the  faith, 
your  own  person  will  be  absolved  from  all  future 
misfortunes.  If  you  gain  five  adherents  to  the 


7° 


The  Siege  in  Peking 

faith,  your  whole  family  will  be  absolved  from 
all  evils ; if  you  gain  ten  adherents  to  the  faith, 
your  whole  village  will  be  absolved  from  all 
calamities.  Those  who  gain  no  adherents  to  the 
cause  shall  be  decapitated  ; for,  until  all  foreigners 
have  been  exterminated,  the  rain  can  never  visit 
us.  Those  who  have  been  so  unfortunate  as  to 
have  drunk  water  from  wells  poisoned  by  foreign- 
ers should  at  once  make  use  of  the  following 
Divine  Prescription,  the  ingredients  of  which  are 
to  be  decocted  and  swallowed,  when  the  poisoned 
patient  will  recover : 

Dried  black  plums half  an  ounce. 

Solanum  dulcamara half  an  ounce. 

Liquorice  root half  an  ounce.” 


If  it  be  asked  what  were  our  Ministers  in 
Peking  doing  all  the  while,  that  they  adopted  no 
effective  measures  to  avert  the  coming  danger,  I 
answer  they  were,  one  and  all,  not  insensible  to 
appeals  which  reached  them  from  without.  Yet 
they  never  for  a moment  suspected  that  there 
was  any  real  danger  of  an  insurrection  in  the 
capital. 

On  that  point  official  information  from  the  Chi- 
nese Government  outweighed  the  representations 
of  missionaries.  Turning  a deaf  ear  to  the  Cas- 
sandra prophecies  of  the  latter,  they  allowed 


The  Boxers  and  Their  Allies  71 

themselves  to  be  soothed  by  the  siren  song  of  the 
former. 

“Those  Boxers,”  said  the  Mandarins,  “are  not 
soldiers.  They  only  practise  a sort  of  innocent 
gymnastic  with  a view  to  the  protection  of  their 
own  homes.  Sometimes,  indeed,  they  get  into 
disputes  with  their  Christian  neighbors  leading 
to  bloodshed,  but  they  are  an  undisciplined  rab- 
ble, who  cannot  make  head  against  the  military. 
The  Dowager  Empress  will  at  once  issue  orders 
for  them  to  disperse  and  return  to  their  homes.” 

As  to  the  comparative  safety  of  Peking  I was 
myself  as  much  astray  as  any  of  the  Ministers, 
for  I wrote  to  my  relations  that  I thought  the 
capital  in  no  danger,  as  it  was  patrolled  by  a well- 
organized  military  force.  “ Peking,”  I said,  “ is 
the  safest  place  in  China.” 

For  not  foreseeing  the  rising  in  the  capital  one 
Minister  is  not  more  blameworthy  than  another, 
yet  may  the  French  Minister  fairly  be  held  culpa- 
ble for  neglecting  to  take  effective  measures  to 
stay  the  scourge  which  destroyed  the  flourishing 
missionary  work  carried  on  by  his  countrymen. 
Had  he  seized  the  Chinese  gun-boats,  and  laid 
an  embargo  on  the  seaports  of  China,  the  gov- 
ernment would  soon  have  been  brought  to  its 


senses. 


72  The  Siege  in  Peking 

Though  apprehending  no  sudden  outbreak,  the 
diplomatic  body  still  thought  it  prudent  to  de- 
mand permission  to  introduce  a guard  of  ma- 
rines for  their  several  legations.  The  Yamen 
objected,  and  parleying  went  on  for  some  weeks. 
At  length,  on  the  27th  of  May,  the  railway  to 
Paoting  Fu  was  torn  up,  the  station-houses 
burned  down,  some  of  the  employees  killed, 
and  others  put  to  flight. 

Taking  alarm  for  the  first  time,  the  Ministers 
decided  to  proceed  without  the  consent  of  the 
Yamen.  The  guards  were  sent  for,  and  they  ar- 
rived (about  four  hundred  and  fifty  including  of- 
ficers) not  an  hour  too  soon,  for  the  next  day  the 
other  branch  of  the  track  was  also  destroyed,  and 
communication  with  the  sea-coast  completely 
cut  off.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  siege. 


CHAPTER  V 


SIEGE  OF  THE  LEGATIONS  IN  PEKING 

This  siege  in  Peking  will  undoubtedly  take 
rank  as  one  of  the  most  notable  in  the  annals  of 
history.  Others  have  been  longer.  The  be- 
sieged have  been  in  most  cases  more  numerous, 
their  sufferings  have  oftentimes  been  greater, 
yet  this  siege  stands  out  uniquely  as  the  uprising 
of  a great  nation  against  the  whole  of  the  civ- 
ilized world. 

Cooped  up  within  the  narrow  bounds  of  one 
legation — the  British,  which  covered  the  largest 
area  and  contained  the  largest  number  of  build- 
ings— were  people  of  no  fewer  than  fourteen 
nationalities  and  the  Ministers  of  eleven  nations, 
the  whole  number  of  foreigners  not  much  short 
of  one  thousand,  and  having  under  their  protec- 
tion about  two  thousand  native  Christians.  Out- 
side of  the  city  gates,  somewhere  between  the 
city  and  the  sea,  was  an  army  under  the  banners 
of  the  eight  foremost  powers  of  the  world  ad- 
vancing to  the  rescue,  and  the  eyes  of  the  world 


73 


74 


The  Siege  in  Peking 

were  fixed  on  that  movement  with  an  intensity 
of  interest  which  no  tragedy  has  ever  awakened 
in  the  spectators  of  the  most  moving  scenes  of  a 
theatre. 

All  the  appliances  of  modern  civilization  con- 
tribute to  this  effect.  The  telegraph  has  flashed 
the  news  of  our  distress  beneath  the  waves  of  the 
ocean,  and  the  navy  yards  and  camps  in  the  four 
quarters  of  the  earth  are  set  in  commotion.  The 
politics  of  nations  give  way  to  the  interest  of  the 
universal  public  in  the  one  great  question  of  the 
possibility  of  rescue.  From  day  to  day  the  daily 
papers  chronicle  now  the  advance,  then  the  re- 
treat of  the  rescuing  party.  Hopes  and  fears  rise 
and  fall  in  alternate  fluctuation.  At  one  time 
the  besieged  are  reported  as  comfortably  enjoy- 
ing themselves,  protected  and  well  fed ; at  an- 
other they  are  represented  as  having  been  mas- 
sacred to  a man  with  all  imaginable  attendant 
horrors.  It  is  our  object  in  this  chapter  to  pre- 
sent its  successive  phases  as  they  actually  oc- 
curred, without  going  back  to  discuss  preliminary 
questions. 

Trie  siege  divides  itself  into  two  distinct  stages. 
During  the  first  of  these,  of  only  ten  days’  dura- 
tion, the  Boxers  are  our  conspicuous  enemies, 
the  Government  and  soldiers  of  the  Chinese  Em- 


Siege  of  the  Legations  in  Peking  75 

pire  keeping  themselves  studiously  in  the  back- 
ground. In  the  second  stage,  which  lasted  eight 
weeks,  the  Government  and  its  soldiers  come 
prominently  forward,  and  the  Boxers  almost 
disappear. 

The  guards  summoned  for  the  eight  legations 
were  not  over  four  hundred  and  fifty,  including 
officers,  yet  they  saved  the  situation.  Had  they 
been  delayed  no  more  than  forty-eight  hours  the 
whole  foreign  community  in  Peking  must  have 
perished,  for  reliable  rumor  affirmed  that  the 
Boxers  had  resolved  to  attack  the  legations  and 
destroy  all  foreign  residents  during  the  midsum- 
mer festival,  which  occurs  early  in  June.  With- 
out that  handful  of  marines  defence  would  have 
been  hopeless. 

Rumor  (in  this  case  also  reliable)  further  af- 
firmed that  the  Empress  Dowager  had  resolved 
to  give  the  Boxers  a free  hand  in  their  conflict. 
Should  they  succeed,  so  much  the  better.  Should 
they  fail,  there  would  still  be  room  to  represent 
(as  Chinese  diplomacy  has  industriously  done) 
that  the  government  had  been  overpowered  and 
its  good  intentions  thwarted  by  the  uprising  of 
an  irresistible  mob. 

Rumor  further  asserted  that,  by  way  of  clear- 
ing the  ground  for  their  operations,  the  Empress 


76  The  Siege  in  Peking 

Dowager  had  given  consent  to  the  complete  de- 
struction of  the  quarter  of  the  city  occupied  by 
the  foreign  colony,  viz.,  a street  called,  from  the 
number  of  legations  which  are  situated  on  or 
near  to  it,  “ Legation  Street,”  together  with 
numerous  blocks  of  Chinese  buildings  to  a con- 
siderable distance  on  either  side. 

On  the  9th  of  June,  buildings  and  property 
belonging  to  foreigners  in  the  southern,  or  Chi- 
nese, division  of  the  capital  were  destroyed  by 
fire.  Foreigners,  whether  missionaries  or  civil- 
ians, living  at  outlying  points  in  the  Tartar  city 
took  refuge  under  their  respective  national  flags. 
Missionaries  brought  with  them  their  flocks, 
small  or  great,  of  native  converts,  who  were 
equally  exposed  to  the  rage  of  their  enemies. 

All  possible  measures  were  preconcerted  for 
defence.  Notice  of  our  peril  was  flashed  to  the 
sea-board  by  a roundabout  route,  and  it  was 
hoped  that  we  might  maintain  ourselves  for  a 
few  days  until  the  promised  relief  should  arrive. 
A strong  body  of  marines,  led  by  Admiral  Sey- 
mour and  Captain  McCalla,  set  out  from  Tien 
Tsin  by  rail,  intending  to  repair  the  road,  not 
knowing  how  much  it  was  damaged,  and  hoping 
to  reach  us  in  two  or  three  days.  That  hope 
proved  illusory,  for  week  succeeded  week,  during 


Siege  of  the  Legations  in  Peking  77 

which  we  were  encouraged  by  fictitious  reports 
of  their  advance,  while  in  reality  they  had  been 
driven  back  upon  their  base  and  the  destruction 
of  the  railway  completed.  Had  they  in  the  first 
instance  abandoned  the  railway,  and  pressed  for- 
ward across  the  remaining  interval  of  some  forty 
miles,  they  might  perhaps  have  succeeded  in  re- 
inforcing our  Legation  Guards,  placing  our  com- 
munity in  security,  and  perhaps  they  might  have 
averted  the  subsequent  declaration  of  war ; but  I 
am  anticipating. 

A larger  expedition  was  being  organized  by 
the  admirals  of  the  combined  squadron  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river.  On  the  19th  of  June  a cir- 
cular from  the  Yamen  notified  the  foreign  Min- 
isters that  their  admirals  had  demanded  the  sur- 
render of  the  forts  (they  did  not  say  had  carried 
the  forts  by  storm,  which  was  the  fact),  adding, 
that  “ this  is  an  act  of  war.  Our  country  is  there- 
fore at  war  with  yours.  You  must  accordingly 
quit  our  capital  within  twenty-four  hours  accom- 
panied by  all  your  nationals.”  Exit  Boxers — 
enter  the  regular  Chinese  army. 

Thenceforward  we  were  exposed  to  all  the 
force  the  Government  could  bring  against  us. 

Warned  by  a kind  letter  from  Mr.  Squiers, 
Secretary  of  the  American  Legation,  offering  me 


78  The  Siege  in  Pekin 

the  hospitality  of  his  house,  I had  previously 
there  taken  refuge  from  the  university,  where  I 
had  been  living  alone  at  a distance  of  two  miles. 
While  we  remained  in  the  United  States  legation 
no  direct  attack  was  made  upon  us  by  fire-arms, 
but  we  were  in  hourly  danger  of  being  destroyed 
by  fire,  or  trampled  down  by  a rush  of  the  Big 
Swords. 

The  fires  of  which  I have  spoken  as  having 
first  shown  themselves  in  the  outer  city  were  not 
confined  to  mission  chapels.  A large  quarter, 
containing  the  richest  magazines  of  foreign 
goods  and  estimated  to  be  worth  from  five  to 
ten  millions  of  pounds  sterling,  was  laid  in  ashes 
by  the  infuriated  Boxers,  not  merely  with  a view 
to  ridding  themselves  of  industrial  competition : 
perhaps  also  in  the  expectation  that  a fair  wind 
would  carry  the  conflagration  over  the  walls  and 
destroy  the  foreign  settlement. 

As  a matter  of  fact  the  high  tower  overlooking 
the  great  central  gate  of  the  Tartar  city  caught 
fire  and  was  consumed.  The  firebrands  fell  in 
profusion  on  the  inside  of  the  walls,  and  we  all 
turned  out  in  expectation  of  having  to  fight  the 
flames.  Happily  a change  of  wind  rendered  this 
unnecessary. 

Within  a few  days  conflagrations  were  kindled 


Siege  of  the  Legations  in  Peking  79 

by  the  Boxers  themselves  in  the  inner  city — 
missionary  chapels,  school-houses,  churches,  and 
cathedrals  were  wrapped  in  flames,  and  lighted 
the  lurid  sky  night  by  night  for  a whole  week. 

The  new,  or  northern,  cathedral,  standing  in 
an  open  ground  by  itself,  was  considered  as  not 
incapable  of  defence.  Monsignor  Favier  bravely 
resolved  to  hold  it  at  all  hazards,  and  thus  pre- 
serve the  lives  of  three  thousand  converts  who 
had  there  taken  refuge.  In  this  he  was  aided  by 
a volunteer  band  of  forty  brave  marines,  French, 
Italian,  and  Austrian,  together  with  a disciplined 
force  of  native  Christians.  The  defence  of  that 
cathedral  forms  the  most  brilliant  page  in  the 
history  of  the  siege. 

It  was  not,  however,  until  the  siege  was  raised 
that  we  had  any  conception  of  the  severity  of  the 
conflict  that  devoted  band  had  to  wage  in  order 
to  keep  the  enemy  at  bay,  for  from  us,  though 
separated  only  by  an  interval  of  two  miles  in  a di- 
rect line,  they  were  cut  off  from  communication 
as  completely  as  if  they  had  been  situated  at  the 
North  Pole. 

After  the  declaration  of  war  and  the  ultimatum 
above  referred  to,  the  Ministers  had  a meeting, 
at  which  they  agreed  that  it  would  be  impossible 
to  comply  with  the  demand  of  the  Chinese  Gov- 


8o 


The  Siege  in  Peking 

ernment.  They  resolved  to  request  an  exten- 
sion of  time,  or  at  least  to  gain  time  by  parleying 
over  the  conditions  until  our  expected  relief 
should  arrive.  With  this  view  they  agreed  to  go 
separately  to  the  Yamen  to  make  remonstrance 
against  the  harsh  treatment  implied  in  this  ulti- 
matum. 

On  the  18th  two  Boxers,  mounted  in  a cart,  had 
ostentatiously  paraded  the  street,  by  way  of  chal- 
lenge, as  heralds  were  wont  to  do  in  feudal  times. 
As  they  passed  the  German  legation  the  Min- 
ister ordered  them  to  be  arrested.  One  made  his 
escape ; the  other  was  captured  and  brought 
round  to  the  U.  S.  legation.  On  consultation  it 
was  decided  to  keep  him  a prisoner,  and  he  was 
led  away,  the  Baron  giving  him  a sound  beating 
with  his  heavy  cane. 

On  the  morning  of  the  20th  Baron  Ketteler 
set  out  for  the  Yamen,  in  pursuance  of  this 
arrangement.  No  sooner  had  he  reached  a 
great  street  than  he  was  shot  in  the  back,  falling 
dead  immediately.  His  secretary  was  at  the 
same  time  wounded,  but  succeeded  in  escaping 
to  a mission  hospital,  whence,  after  his  blood  was 
stanched,  he  was  carried  back  to  his  legation. 

The  news  produced  a panic  in  all  the  legations. 
They  considered  that  the  projected  massacre  had 


SCENE  OF  BARON  VON  KETTELERS  MURDER. 
ARCHWAY  ON  HA  TA  MEN  GREAT  STREET. 


Siege  of  the  Legations  in  Peking  81 

begun,  and,  as  the  British  legation  alone  was  re- 
garded as  capable  of  defence,  to  that  they  fell 
back,  accompanied  by  all  their  nationals.  Sir 
Claude  MacDonald  had  generously  placed  its 
resources  at  the  disposal  of  his  colleagues. 

Had  the  enemy  followed  up  their  advantage 
and  poured  into  the  outlying  legations  (aban- 
doned as  they  were)  they  might  have  reduced 
them  to  ashes,  or,  pursuing  us  into  that  of  Great 
Britain,  they  might  have  overpowered  us  in  the 
midst  of  panic  and  confusion.  Happily  they 
were  held  in  awe  by  their  opinion  of  foreign 
prowess,  and  carefully  abstained  at  that  time 
from  coming  to  close  quarters.  In  the  course  of 
the  day,  it  was  found  that  the  legations  had  not 
been  invaded  by  the  enemy,  and  they  were  reoc- 
cupied by  their  proper  guards  with  the  exception 
of  the  Belgian,  Austrian,  Dutch,  and  Italian, 
which  lay  beyond  the  line  of  defence,  and  were, 
speedily  destroyed  by  fire. 

Baron  Ketteler’s  life  was  in  no  unimportant 
sense  a ransom  for  many,  but  his  was  not  the 
only  foreign  life  offered  up  that  day.  In  the  af- 
ternoon Professor  James,  of  the  Imperial  Uni- 
versity, while  returning  from  the  fu  of  a Mon- 
gol prince  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  canal,  was 
shot  dead  in  crossing  the  bridge.  He,  too,  sac- 


82 


The  Siege  in  Peking 


rificed  his  life  in  a noble  cause;  for  he,  along 
with  Dr.  Morrison,  of  the  London  Times,  had 
there  made  arrangements  for  the  shelter  of  native 
Christians. 

That  very  evening,  and  thenceforward  every 
day,  we  were  fired  on  by  our  besiegers.  The 
fusillades  were  particularly  fierce  when  a thun- 
derstorm occurred,  the  Chinese  seeming  to  re- 
gard heaven’s  artillery  as  coming  to  supplement 
the  use  of  their  own  weapons. 

The  most  dangerous  of  their  attacks  were, 
however,  made  with  the  firebrand.  Numer- 
ous buildings  beyond  our  outer  wall  were  suc- 
cessively fired  for  no  other  object  than  to  burn 
us  out.  Of  these  the  principal  was  the  magnifi- 
cent palace  of  the  Hanlin  Academy,  containing 
the  most  costly  library  in  the  Chinese  Empire. 
That  library  only  served  the  ruthless  vandals  for 
'the  purpose  of  kindling  a conflagration,  and 
manuscripts  of  priceless  value,  dating  back  five  or 
six  centuries,  were  consumed  by  the  flames  or 
trodden  under  foot.  By  almost  superhuman  ef- 
fort the  flames  were  subdued  and  the  enemy 
driven  back.  That  building  henceforward  be- 
came a bloody  battle-ground  between  the  con- 
tending forces,  which  at  times  approached  so 
near  each  other  that  the  enemy  assailed  us  by 


Siege  of  the  Legations  in  Peking  83 

throwing  kerosene  oil,  and  our  people  replied 
with  oil  of  vitriol  in  hand-to-hand  encounters. 

Early  in  this  part  of  the  siege  a struggle  oc- 
curred which  more  than  any  other  was  the  pivot 
of  our  destiny.  This  was  on  the  wall.  It  had 
been  held  by  Chinese  soldiers,  but,  dominating 
all  the  legations,  had  heavy  artillery  been  there 
planted,  defence  would  have  been  impossible. 
The  Chinese  were  driven  back  from  a portion  of 
it  by  a combined  force  of  Americans  and  Ger- 
mans; but,  returning  in  greater  numbers,  they 
gradually  forced  our  troops  to  abandon  their  po- 
sition. The  situation  appeared  desperate.  The 
Germans  being  insufficient  in  number  to  defend 
their  own  legation,  a combined  force  of  Ameri- 
cans, British,  and  Russians,  amounting  to  about 
sixty  men,  was  organized  under  the  lead  of  Cap- 
tain Myers,  of  the  United  States  marines. 

Before  the  onslaught  which  was  to  decide  our 
destiny  Captain  Myers  pronounced  a remarkable 
harangue.  Pointing  to  the  British  legation, 
“ My  men,”  he  said,  “ yonder  are  four  hundred 
women  and  children  whose  lives  are  dependent 
upon  our  success.  If  we  fail,  they  perish,  and 
we  perish  also.  When  I say  go,  then  go.”  The 
Americans  and  English  must  have  been  moved 
beyond  expression  by  this  appeal.  The  Rus- 


84  The  Siege  in  Peking 

sians,  too,  though  they  knew  not  a word  of  his 
speech,  fully  comprehended  the  meaning  of  his 
gesture.  They,  as  well  as  the  others,  were  will- 
ing to  offer  their  life’s  blood  for  the  success  of 
this  forlorn  hope. 

The  Chinese,  taken  by  surprise,  were  driven 
from  their  barricades,  and  a large  space  fronting 
the  legations  remained  in  possession  of  our 
foreign  guards.  But  the  victory  cost  us  dear, 
for,  besides  several  others  killed  and  wounded, 
the  gallant  leader  who  deserves  to  be  regarded 
as  one  of  the  heroes  of  the  siege  fell  wounded  to 
'the  ground.  Thenceforward  he  was  unable  to 
take  that  share  in  our  defence  for  which  his  soul 
thirsted. 

Within  the  legation  all  was  bustle  and  activity. 
The  marines,  reinforced  by  a volunteer  corps  of 
a hundred  or  more,  were  occupying  commanding 
points  on  the  legation  walls,  or  making  sorties 
from  the  legation  gates — sometimes  to  capture  a 
gun  which  threatened  to  breach  our  defences, 
sometimes  to  disperse  a force  that  was  gather- 
ing for  an  assault.  Night  and  day  this  went  on, 
week  after  week,  but  not  without  loss.  Several 
of  the  leaders  of  these  sorties  fell  in  not  abor- 
tive attempts,  and  many  of  their  soldiers  were 
wounded.  Our  fortifications  were  strengthened 


PORTION  OF  THE  WALL  OF  PEKING  HELD  BY  THE  ALLIES. 


Siege  of  the  Legations  in  Peking  85 

partly  by  sand-bags  that  were  made  to  the  num- 
ber of  many  thousands  by  the  ladies,  who  inces- 
santly plied  the  sewing-machine — an  instrument 
which  on  that  occasion  proved  to  be  no  less  ef- 
fective than  our  machine-guns. 

Much  work  was  also  done  in  the  way  of  dig- 
ging trenches  to  countermine  the  operations  of 
the  enemy.  Most  of  this  was  superintended  with 
great  skill  by  missionaries,  whose  merit  has 
been  frankly  acknowledged  by  diplomatists  and 
generals.  It  was  carried  out  by  the  bone  and 
muscle  of  native  Christians.  With  regard  to 
these  unhappy  refugees,  who  were  destitute  of 
home  and  livelihood,  it  has  also  been  acknowl- 
edged that  without  their  aid  the  defence  would 
have  been  impossible. 

Surely,  in  the  final  settlement,  the  losses  of  the 
native  Christians  should  not  be  left  out  of  view, 
nor  should  precautions  be  neglected  to  secure 
their  safety  in  the  future. 

For  eight  long  weeks  we  were  sickened  by 
hope  deferred.  The  forces  of  our  defenders  were 
weakened  by  daily  losses.  Our  store  of  provi- 
sions was  running  low.  Had  the  rescue  been 
delayed  another  fortnight  we  must  have  suffered 
the  fate  of  Cawnpore,  rather  than  the  fortune  of 
Lucknow.  We  had  eaten  up  all  our  horses  and 


86  The  Siege  in  Peking 

mules,  to  the  number  of  eighty ! Only  three  or 
four  remained,  affording  meat  for  not  more  than 
two  days.  Our  meal  barrels  had  also  reached 
the  bottom,  and  unhappily  the  widow’s  cruse  of 
oil  was  not  within  our  reach.  Our  clothing  even 
(we  had  many  of  us  no  change  of  raiment)  was 
worn  to  shreds,  and  it  became  unfashionable  to 
appear  with  a clean  shirt. 

This  reminded  me  of  a few  lines  from  a well- 
known  poet,  referring  to  another  city,  which  I 
had  written  in  my  note-book  on  my  first  visit  to 
Peking,  forty-one  years  ago.  (They  are  a photo- 
graph of  the  city  as  it  then  was.  And  now  its 
condition  is  tenfold  worse.) 

“ Whoso  entereth  within  this  town 
Which  sheening  far  celestial  seems  to  be, 

Disconsolate  will  wander  up  and  down 
’Mid  many  things  unsightly  to  strange  e’e. 

For  hut  and  palace  show  like  filthily  ; 

The  dingy  denizens  are  reared  in  dirt ; 

Nor  personage  of  high  or  low  degree, 

Doth  care  for  cleanness  of  surtout  or  shirt.” 

(Childe  Harold.) 

If  asked  how  we  spent  our  time,  I answer, 
there  was  no  time  for  amusement,  and  no  un- 
seemly frivolity.  Fear  and  anxiety  dwelt  in 


Siege  of  the  Legations  in  Peking  87 

every  bosom,  but  vve  took  care  that  they  should 
not  show  themselves  upon  our  faces.  Especially 
did  our  brave  women  strive  to  look  cheerful  in 
order  to  strengthen  the  arms  of  their  defenders. 
In  the  midst  of  the  fiercest  attacks,  when  rifle- 
shots were  accompanied  by  bursting  bombs,  only 
one  gave  way  to  hysteric  shrieks  (she  was  not 
American) ; and  it  may  be  added,  by  way  of  off- 
set, that  one  man,  a Norwegian,  went  stark  mad. 

The  place  was  overcrowded,  and  such  was  the 
want  of  room  that  forty  or  fifty  from  the  Roman 
Catholic  missions  were  domiciled  in  an  open 
pavilion,  where  some  of  them  were  wounded  by 
stray  shots.  Of  Protestant  missionaries,  forty- 
three  were  lodged  in  the  legation  chapel.  The 
chapel  was  employed,  I need  hardly  say,  more 
like  a hotel  than  a meeting-house.  There  was 
no  time  for  praying  or  singing.  Sunday  was 
as  busily  devoted  to  fighting  as  week  days,  nor 
did  I once  hear  of  a prayer-meeting.  Yet  never 
was  there  more  heartfelt  praying  done  than  dur- 
ing this  trying  period. 

Within  the  British  Legation  I was  transferred 
from  the  table  of  Mrs.  Squiers  to  that  of  Mrs. 
Conger,  both  families  occupying  only  a part  of 
the  small  house  of  the  legation  doctor.  Had  I 
been  her  brother  I could  not  have  been  treated 


88  The  Siege  in  Peking 

with  more  affectionate  kindness  than  I received 
at  her  hands  and  those  of  the  Minister.  Calm, 
resolute,  hopeful,  and,  as  Pope  says,  “ Mistress  of 
herself,  though  China  fall,”  a devout  Christian, 
too,  though  tinged  with  the  idealism  of  Bishop 
Berkeley,  Mrs.  Conger  is  one  of  the  most  admir- 
able women  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  know.  I 
washed  many  a time  that,  like  her,  I could  look  on 
all  those  events  as  nothing  more  than  a horrid 
nightmare,  merely  conjured  up  by  a distempered 
imagination.  The  round  shot  by  which  our  w'alls 
wjere  pierced  was  too  tangible  to  be  resolved  into 
fanciful  ideas.  The  United  States  has  had  in 
Peking  no  worthier  representative  than  Major 
Conger.  A soldier  through  all  the  War  of  Seces- 
sion, he  met  this  outbreak  w'ith  a fortitude  and 
good  sense  pre-eminently  conspicuous.  A man 
of  broad  sympathies  and  deep  insight  into  Chi- 
nese life  and  character  (especially  after  the  ex- 
perience of  the  siege),  it  is  well  that  he  has  been 
intrusted  in  a large  measure  with  the  negotia- 
tions looking  to  a final  settlement. 

Some  incidents  of  the  siege  may  here  be  in- 
troduced. 

First  among  them  w?as  the  fall  of  the  British 
flag,  not  in  the  order  of  time,  but  in  the  impres- 


Siege  of  the  Legations  in  Peking  89 

sion  which  it  made  upon  our  minds.  Charged 
with  the  duty  of  inspecting  the  passes  of  Chinese 
coming  and  going  between  the  legations,  my 
post  was  at  the  gate  over  which  it  waved  so 
proudly  (and  there,  through  the  whole  siege,  I 
passed  my  days  from  5 a.m.  until  8 or  9 p.m.). 
Never  did  it  wave  more  proudly  than  during 
those  days  when,  beneath  its  ample  folds,  it  gave 
asylum  to  the  ministers  of  eleven  legations  and 
to  people  of  fourteen  nationalities.  Never  was 
the  pre-eminent  position  of  Great  Britain  more 
conspicuous — a position  in  keeping  with  her  his- 
tory in  the  opening  of  China,  and  the  paramount 
influence  which  she  has  exerted  on  the  com- 
merce and  politics  of  that  empire.  One  day,  in 
the  early  morning,  down  came  the  flag,  the  staff 
having  been  shot  away.  We  had  observed  that 
for  several  days  it  had  been  made  a target  for  the 
enemy.  The  Chinese  seem  to  take  as  reality 
what  to  us  is  no  more  than  poetry  in  speaking  of 
the  protection  of  a flag.  With  them  the  flag  is 
supposed  to  be  accompanied  by  a guardian  spirit. 
In  this  case  they  would  call  it  the  tutelar  genius 
of  the  British  Empire. 

Before  going  into  battle  they  offer  a sacrifice 
to  their  own  banner.  If  they  are  able  to  seize,  or 
in  any  way  destroy,  the  banner  of  their  enemy. 


go  The  Siege  in  Peking 

they  consider  the  battle  as  more  than  half  gained. 
To  us  the  fall  of  the  flag  had  the  effect  of  ill-omen. 
It  was  not  replaced  for  a number  of  days,  and 
the  aspect  of  the  gate-tower,  deprived  of  its 
glorious  crest,  was  certainly  depressing.  When 
replaced  it  was  not  exalted  to  its  former  height 
— the  flag-mast  being  purposely  shortened  in 
some  degree  to  guard  against  a repetition  of  the 
misfortune. 

On  one  of  the  first  days  of  my  service  at  the 
gate-house  a marine  belonging  to  the  guard 
there  stationed  was  shot  down,  and  died  instantly. 
Where  the  shot  came  from  it  was  not  easy  to 
determine,  but  on  all  sides,  at  no  great  distance, 
were  trees  and  high  buildings  in  which  it  was 
possible  for  sharpshooters  to  conceal  themselves. 
So  much,  indeed,  were  we  apprehensive  of  un- 
seen messengers  of  death  that  at  night  we  seldom 
lighted  a lamp,  taking  our  dinner  before  night- 
fall, and  when  lamps  required  to  be  lighted  they 
were  always  extinguished  as  soon  as  possible,  not 
to  attract  the  aim  of  hidden  marksmen  who  might 
at  night  occupy  commanding  positions  which 
would  be  too  dangerous  for  them  during  the  day. 
Let  it  not  be  supposed  that,  because  the  Chinese 
are  backward  in  the  military  art,  they  were  de- 
ficient either  in  weapons  of  precision  or  in  the 


Siege  of  the  Legations  in  Peking  91 

skill  to  use  them.  Let  the  fate  of  our  captains 
and  their  men  be  the  answer. 

One  British  captain,  Halliday,  was  grievously 
wounded  in  a sortie.  His  successor,  Captain 
Strouts,  was  shot  dead  in  crossing  the  canal  in 
front  of  our  gate.  Captain  Wray  was  shot  in 
the  head,  but  not  killed,  in  attempting  to  capture 
a gun.  The  captain  of  French  marines  was 
killed.  He  had  complained,  a few  weeks  earlier, 
that  in  Peking  he  had  nothing  to  do  and  that  the 
marines  had  been  summoned  on  a false  alarm. 
The  wound  of  Captain  Myers  (and  how  he  got  it) 
has  already  been  mentioned. 

The  sad  procession  closes  with  Captain  Riley, 
of  the  United  States  Navy,  who  in  the  hour  of 
occupation,  while  playing  his  artillery  on  the 
palace  gates,  fell  a victim  to  a sharpshooter.  It 
would  seem,  indeed,  as  if  those  sharpshooters,  as 
in  other  lands,  knew  how  to  pick  off  the  officers 
at  the  head  of  their  troops,  yet  so  numerous  were 
the  casualties  among  our  men  as  to  show  that 
their  attention  was  not  confined  to  officers. 

As  rifle-shots  were  parried  by  our  high  walls, 
our  chief  danger  was  from  cannon.  With  these 
the  enemy  appeared  to  be  insufficiently  provided, 
but  gradually  one  after  another  opened  its  Cer- 
berean  mouth  until  big  guns  and  little  guns  were 


92  The  Siege  in  Peking 

barking  at  us  on  all  sides.  The  most  dangerous 
gun  was  that  of  which  I have  spoken  as  aimed 
at  our  wall  from  the  distance  of  a few  yards.  The 
expedition  for  its  capture  was  not  successful  in 
accomplishing  that  object,  yet  so  frightened  were 
the  Chinese  soldiers  by  the  daring  of  that  attack 
that  they  thought  fit  to  remove  the  precious 
piece  of  artillery  to  a safer  distance,  and  its  roar 
was  no  more  heard. 

Guns  of  heavy  calibre  were  erected  on  the 
northeast  of  the  Fu,  which  played  havoc  with  the 
French  and  German  legations,  and  almost  daily 
kept  us  awake  by  the  explosion  of  shells  over 
our  heads.  Guns  of  less  weight  were  placed  on 
an  angle  of  the  Imperial  City  wall,  close  to  the 
British  legation.  They  commanded  both  sides 
of  the  canal,  and  threatened  to  demolish  a flimsy 
fort  hastily  thrown  up  for  the  protection  of  our 
gate. 

Hitherto  we  had  nothing  with  which  to  re- 
spond larger  than  a machine-gun.  The  want  of 
heavier  metal  was  deeply  felt,  and  one  of  our 
marines,  Mitchell  by  name,  aided  by  an  ingenious 
Welshman  named  Thomas,  undertook  to  con- 
struct a cannon  out  of  a brass  pump — putting 
two  pieces  together  and  wrapping  them  with 
steel  wire  somewhat  as  Milton  represents  the 


Siege  of  the  Legations  in  Peking  93 

devils  as  doing  in  the  construction  of  a cannon 
out  of  a hollow  pine.  Before  it  was  completed, 
however,  Sir  Claude  forbade  its  use,  saying  that 
to  keep  the  pump  to  meet  a possible  conflagra- 
tion was  of  far  more  vital  importance. 

Luckily,  while  this  work  was  going  on,  the 
gunners  were  informed  by  a Chinese  that  in  an 
old  junk-shop  within  our  lines  they  had  discov- 
ered an  iron  cannon  of  considerable  size.  It  was 
brought  in,  and  so  good  was  it  that  they  resolved 
immediately  to  rig  it  up  for  use.  Examination 
proved  it  to  be  Chinese,  though  at  first  it  was 
supposed  to  be  of  English  make. 

Mounted  on  an  Italian  gun-carriage,  and  pro- 
vided with  Russian  bomb-shells,  it  became  useful 
to  us  and  formidable  to  our  enemies.  The  Rus- 
sians, though  bringing  ammunition,  had  forgot- 
ten their  gun.  The  Italians,  I presume,  had 
found  theirs  too  heavy,  and  brought  the  empty 
carriage.  Put  together  and  served  by  American 
and  British  gunners  it  was  not  unfitly  christened 
the  International.  It  led  the  way  in  many  a 
sortie,  prostrating  barricades,  and  frightening 
the  enemy  by  its  terrible  thunder.  Not,  how- 
ever, being  a breech-loader,  and  the  ammuni- 
tion being  ill-adapted,  it  was  inconvenient  to 
handle. 


94 


The  Siege  in  Peking 


In  one  of  these  sorties,  Mitchell,  the  brave  gun- 
ner, who  seemed  to  love  it  as  if  it  had  been  his 
sweetheart,  had  his  arm  shattered. 

The  first  shells  that  began  to  rain  upon  us  led 
us  to  apprehend  a heavier  shower,  and  to  con- 
trive umbrellas  for  our  protection.  These  so- 
called  “ bomb-proofs  ” were  in  reality  excava- 
tions made  in  the  ground  in  front  of  the  building 
occupied  by  each  legation.  They  were  barely  * 
large  enough  for  the  women  and  children : the 
men  were  expected  to  stand  outside  to  fight  the 
enemy.  They  were  covered  over  with  heavy 
beams,  and  these  again  with  a stratum  of  earth 
and  sand-bags.  No  cavern  in  a hillside  could 
look  more  gloomy  or  forbidding.  The  first  rain 
(not  of  shot  or  shell)  filled  them  with  water,  and 
we  said  to  our  ladies  that,  in  order  to  avail  them- 
selves of  these  laboriously  constructed  bomb- 
proofs,  they  would  have  to  put  on  their  bathing- 
suits. 

The  ladies  were  not  timid,  and  were  not  there- 
fore in  haste  to  try  the  virtues  of  a mud-bath.  To 
some  of  them,  the  bursting  of  shells  and  crack- 
ling of  small  arms,  if  not  music,  was  yet  not 
without  a stimulating  effect.  On  the  first  shots 
Miss  Conger,  who  was  suffering  from  nervous 
prostration,  threw  herself  into  her  father’s  arms 


Siege  of  the  Legations  in  Peking  95 

and  wept  convulsively.  At  the  next  attack  she 
bore  the  ordeal  with  perfect  composure.  As  the 
siege  went  on,  the  daily  fusillades  appeared  to 
act  upon  her  nerves  like  a necessary  tonic.  She 
grew  stronger  from  day  to  day,  and  at  the  end 
of  the  siege  she  seemed  to  have  obtained  a com- 
plete cure,  a thing  which  she  had  sought  in  vain 
by  an  ocean  voyage. 

In  the  Conger  family  were  three  ladies  from 
Chicago,  who,  having  their  visit  cut  short  by  the 
outbreak,  on  going  to  the  railway  station  found 
the  road  broken  up,  and  returned  to  have  their 
visit  prolonged  by  the  siege.  Mrs.  Woodward 
went  about  everywhere,  even  in  places  of  danger, 
armed  with  her  camera,  but  her  post  of  constant 
service  was  in  the  hospital,  where  our  wounded 
boys  affectionately  called  her  by  the  name  of 
“ Mamma.”  Many  other  ladies,  professional 
and  unprofessional,  worked  hard  to  nurse  those 
brave  fellows  back  to  life.  Her  handsome 
young  daughter,  if  she  rendered  any  service  be- 
sides the  sewing  of  sand-bags,  did  it  chiefly  by 
inspiring  certain  young  men  to  heroic  deeds. 
The  mother  having  expressed  to  me  a wish  to 
have  a Boxer’s  rifle  for  her  museum,  I whispered 
in  the  ear  of  young  Bismarck,  who  the  next  day 
brought  the  desired  weapon,  and,  laying  it  at  her 


96  The  Siege  in  Peking 

feet,  said,  “ This  is  the  spoil  of  an  enemy  whom 
I shot  this  morning.”* 

The  other  lady,  Miss  Payen,  was  a skilful 
painter  in  water-colors,  and  her  elegant  art, 
though  slower  than  the  camera,  has  no  doubt 
contributed  to  preserve  memorials  of  the  siege 
not  a few. 

These  three  ladies  were  a powerful  reinforce- 
ment to  the  three  ladies  of  the  Conger  family, 
and  the  six  attracted  not  merely  young  men,  but 
had  frequent  visits  from  such  old  men  as  Sir 
Robert  Hart  and  the  Spanish  Minister,  Mr.  Col- 
ogan,  a hidalgo  of  Irish  extraction. 

No  man  kept  up  his  spirits  better  than  Sir 
Robert,  who  was  always  cheerful,  and  his  con- 
versation sparkled  with  humor,  notwithstanding 
the  Customs  head-quarters  and  Imperial  post- 
offices,  erected  and  organized  by  him  as  the  vis- 
ible fruit  of  forty  years  of  service,  had  all  been 
laid  in  ashes.  On  arriving  in  the  legation  he 
said  to  me,  “ Dr.  Martin,  I have  no  other  clothes 
than  those  you  see  me  standing  in.” 

As  we  looked  each  other  in  the  face,  we  could 

* It  would  be  unfair  to  overlook  Miss  Pierce,  a fair  niece  of 
the  Congers,  under  whose  inspiration  Dhuysberg,  a young 
Dutchman,  performed  more  than  one  exploit.  In  a word, 
all  our  men  were  doubly  brave  because  they  had  our  women 
to  encourage  them. 


Siege  of  the  Legations  in  Peking  97 

not  help  blushing  for  shame  at  the  thought  that 
our  life-long  services  had  been  so  little  valued. 
The  man  who  had  nursed  their  Customs  revenue 
from  three  to  thirty  millions,  the  Chinese  were 
trying  to  butcher ; while  from  my  thirty  years’ 
teaching  of  international  law  they  had  learned 
that  the  lives  of  Ambassadors  were  not  to  be  held 
sacred ! 

He  was  accompanied  in  this  place  of  refuge  by 
Mr.  Bredon,  Assistant  Inspector-General,  and  all 
the  Customs  staff,  as  well  as  by  the  professors  in 
the  Tungwuen  College,  and  I was  accompanied 
by  seven  of  the  professors  in  the  Imperial  Uni- 
versity— one  having  fallen  a martyr  to  his  good 
works.  All  these  co-operated  with  the  mission- 
aries, and  others,  in  discharging  various  duties, 
the  humblest  of  which  was  made  honorable  by 
the  circumstances  of  the  siege. 

Some  spent  their  days  in  digging  trenches, 
others  inspected  latrines  in  the  interest  of  sani- 
tation. One  of  our  professors  superintended  the 
butchery  of  horses  and  the  distribution  of  horse 
meat,  while  a Commissioner  of  Customs  presided 
over  the  operations  of  a Chinese  laundry. 

In  the  way  of  food-supply  the  greatest  service 
was  rendered  by  a Swiss  named  Chamot.  Only 
an  innkeeper,  his  name  will  be  recorded  on  the 


98  The  Siege  in  Peking 

roll  of  fame,  and  the  French  Minister  proposes  to 
procure  for  him  the  cordon  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor.  To  us  he  was  Corvus  Elia,  the  raven  of 
the  prophet  Elijah,  bringing  us  bread  morning 
and  evening,  but  (what  a pity !)  no  meat.  He 
had  newly  opened  a hotel,  which,  aided  by  his 
brave  wife,  who  carried  a rifle  and  used  it  with 
effect,  he  fortified  and  defended.  He  opened  a 
flour-mill  for  the  occasion,  and  kept  his  bakery 
running  at  high  speed  to  supply  bread  (sour  and 
coarse  it  was),  barely  sufficient  for  a thousand 
mouths.  As  he  crossed  the  bridge,  often  was  he 
fired  on,  his  bread-cart  was  pierced  by  many  bul- 
lets, and  once  his  flag  was  shot  away. 

I recall  a notable  expedition  in  which  Chamot 
and  his  bright  young  wife  bore  a conspicuous 
part.  After  the  burning  of  the  churches  several 
parties  were  sent  out  to  bring  in  the  surviving 
Christians.  One  of  these  parties  was  accom- 
panied by  Chamot  and  his  wife — she  discharging 
the  full  duty  of  an  armed  soldier. 

Another  of  these  parties  proceeding  to  the  Nan 
Tang  southern  cathedral  was  accompanied  by 
Dr.  Morrison,  a man  equally  skilled  with  gun  or 
pen,  and  no  less  brave  in  the  use  of  the  latter. 
His  opinions  are  worth  a broadside  of  cannon. 

On  this  occasion  he  went  at  the  instance  of 


Siege  of  the  Legations  in  Peking  99 

Mrs.  Squiers,  and  was  accompanied  by  Professor 
James,  who  acted  as  interpreter.  Mrs.  Squiers 
is  a woman  of  large  heart  and  long  purse,  whose 
feet  were  never  weary  in  looking  out  the  abodes 
of  the  poor  and  needy. 

When  this  last  company  of  refugees  came  in 
I saw  them  in  the  street  before  they  proceeded  to 
the  Fu.  Never  had  I witnessed  such  a heart- 
moving  spectacle.  Two  hundred  of  the  forlorn- 
est  objects  I ever  beheld  had  been  raked  up  from 
the  ashes  of  their  dwellings.  Starving  and 
weary,  they  seemed  scarcely  able  to  stand.  They 
were  old  and  young,  men  and  women,  all  appar- 
ently ready  to  perish.  One  woman  was  the 
mother  of  Ching  Chang,  a student  of  mine,  for- 
mer Minister  to  France.  She,  like  the  others, 
was  on  foot,  and  equally  destitute  of  all  things. 
Ffer  family  has  been  Christian  for  many  gen- 
erations. 

The  object  most  striking  to  the  eye  was  a man 
of  fifty  bearing  on  his  shoulders  his  mother,  a 
white-haired  woman  of  threescore  and  ten. 

In  the  Fu  were  domiciled  near  two  thousand 
of  such  fugitives,  of  whom  four  or  five  hundred 
were  Protestant.  The  latter  were  subsequently 
removed  to  other  quarters. 

The  Fu  was,  as  I have  said,  defended  by 


loo  The  Siege  in  Peking 

Austrians,  French,  Italians,  and  especially  by 
the  Japanese,  at  the  cost  of  much  bloodshed, 
though  assailed  by  the  heaviest  guns  and  the 
fiercest  forces  of  the  enemy.  Its  importance 
came  from  its  covering  the  approach  not  only  to 
the  four  legations — Spanish,  Japanese,  German, 
and  French — beyond  the  river  it  also  commanded 
the  canal  front  of  the  British  legation.  To  this 
(in  part  at  least)  our  Christians  owed  the  protec- 
tion of  their  asylum. 

In  these  engagements  more  than  half  the 
Japanese,  under  the  lead  of  Colonel  Shiba,  were 
killed  or  wounded,  and  many  of  the  other  na- 
tionalities. Daily  some  were  brought  through 
the  gate  only  to  die  in  the  hospital.  Often  have 
I saluted  bright  young  soldiers  as  they  passed 
out,  and  seen  them  return  in  a few  hours  dead, 
dying,  or  maimed  for  life. 

Never  had  I so  vivid  an  impression  of  the  van- 
ity of  human  life. 

Oh,  Great  Eternity, 

Our  little  life  is  but  a gust 
Which  bends  the  branches  of  thy  tree, 

And  trails  its  blossoms  in  the  dust. 

Yet  never  was  the  thought  of  death  less  pleas- 
ant to  my  mind — not  that  I feared  to  die,  but 


Siege  of  the  Legations  in  Peking  101 

that  I abhorred  the  thought  of  perishing  in  an 
indiscriminate  massacre  of  men,  women,  and 
children.  My  feeling  was  like  that  of  the  weary 
woodcutter  who,  laying  down  his  load,  exclaimed 
with  a sigh,  “ Oh,  Death,  when  wilt  thou  come  ? ” 

Instantly  the  Angel  of  Death  appeared  before 
him,  asking:  “ You  called  me.  Why?  ” 

Frightened  by  the  aspect  of  the  grizzly  terror 
the  woodman  answered,  “ Only  to  help  me  take 
up  my  burden.” 

So  I,  though  over  threescore  and  ten,  was  per- 
suaded by  the  same  apparition  to  bear  my  bur- 
dens a little  longer. 

Within  our  walls  but  few  were  killed  or 
wounded  by  shot  or  shell.  The  health  of  the 
imprisoned  community  was  remarkably  good, 
perhaps  the  better  because  they  had  to  live  on 
low  diet.  The  only  deaths  from  disease  were 
those  of  small  children,  who,  deprived  of  milk 
and  exposed  to  heat,  withered  away  like  flowers ; 
no  less  than  six  of  them  within  a few  short  weeks 
filling  infant  graves. 

Ordinarily  in  Peking  the  heat  of  summer  is 
unendurable,  and  every  foreigner  escapes  to  the 
mountains  or  the  sea.  On  this  occasion 


“ God  tempered  the  wind  to  the  shorn  lamb.” 


102 


The  Siege  in  Peking 

The  heat  was  not  excessive  for  a single  day, 
yet  what  Holmes  calls  “ Intramural  aestivation  ” 
was  far  from  agreeable.  Our  experience  was 
true  to  the  picture  given  in  that  amusing  skit : 

“ His  ardent  front,  the  cive  anheling  wipes 
And  dreams  of  erring  on  ventiferous  ripes.” 

We  all  lost  flesh  from  perspiration  and  want 
of  food — some  ten,  some  twenty,  some  fifty 
pounds.  A Frenchman,  apparently  to  make  my 
apprehension  more  clear  than  by  using  the  metric 
system,  drew  out  his  coat  to  exhibit  the  yawning 
vacancy  which  ought  to  have  been  filled  by  a 
well-lined  stomach. 

After  the  siege  not  a few  strong  men  were 
brought  down  by  fevers  produced  no  doubt  by 
the  privations  of  that  trying  time. 

My  post  was  a vantage-ground  for  observa- 
tion, and  one  of  the  deepest  impressions  made 
upon  me  was  by  seeing  men  of  all  nationalities 
passing  to  and  fro  co-operating  for  the  common 
weal.  It  presented  a foretaste  of  that  union 
which,  we  trust,  may  be  realized  in  the  coming 
millennium,  with  this  difference,  that  then  the 
nations  shall  “ learn  war  no  more.”  The  lines  of 
creed  and  nationality  appeared  to  be  obliterated. 
An  orthodox  Russian  priest  filled  sand-bags  or 


Siege  of  the  Legations  in  Peking  103 

dug  trenches  side  by  side  with  a Roman  Catholic 
or  Protestant  missionary.  Often  did  I converse 
with  the  Catholic  missionaries  of  France,  and  I 
felt  myself  irresistibly  drawn  to  them  by  their 
spirituality  and  devotion. 

Having  heard  of  the  approach  of  the  army  of 
relief,  we  became  more  cheerful.  Two  ladies 
asked  for  my  autograph,  to  be  inserted  in  “ A 
Cycle  of  Cathay,”  and  I wrote  “ Juvabit  memi- 
nisse  ” (It  will  be  pleasant  to  remember). 

The  next  day,  the  French  Minister,  who  was 
noted  for  the  gloomy  view  he  had  always  taken 
of  the  situation,  came  to  the  gate  and  said  to  me, 
“ Eh  bien,  nous  sortirons  d’ici  ” (We  shall  get 
out  of  this).  “ Juvabit  meminisse  ” — alluding  to 
the  inscription. 

That  we  were  able  to  hold  out  was,  perhaps,  in 
some  degree  due  to  divided  counsels  amongst 
our  enemies ; for  we  learned,  with  deep  sorrow, 
from  the  Court  Gazette,  which  had  been  surrep- 
titiously brought  in,  that  four  ministers  in  the 
Tsung  Li  Yamen  had  been  executed  by  order  of 
the  Empress  Dowager.  We  mourned  them  as 
our  friends,  who  had  employed  their  influence  as 
far  as  possible  in  our  favor.  Of  this  I feel  as- 
sured, for  one  of  them  was  the  High  Commis- 
sioner for  Education,  who  had  the  supervision  of 


104  The  Siege  in  Peking 

our  new  university.  Two  others  were  directors 
of  the  Tungwen  College,  the  diplomatic  school 
of  which  I was  president  for  so  long  a time,  and 
I had  come  to  hold  them  in  the  highest  estima- 
tion. One  of  them  had  sent  three  of  his  sons  to 
be  under  my  instruction  in  the  new  university. 

Prince  Ching  undoubtedly  exerted  a powerful, 
though  secret,  influence  in  our  favor.  Com- 
manding, as  he  did,  the  City  Guard,  a Manchu 
force  of  fifty  thousand  men,  had  he  chosen  to 
let  them  loose  upon  us  all  at  once,  we  must 
have  been  inevitably  overwhelmed.  Though  he 
lacked  the  courage  to  remonstrate  with  the  tyrant 
Empress,  he  had  the  power  and  the  tact  to  re- 
strain the  fury  of  his  soldiery. 

One  of  our  greatest  privations  was  the  want 
of  newspapers.  Not  merely  were  we  without  in- 
telligence from  the  great  world  beyond  the  sea, 
we  were  for  the  most  part  in  absolute  ignorance 
as  to  what  was  going  on  outside  of  our  own  walls. 
From  time  to  time  we  sought  to  remedy  this  state 
of  things  by  endeavoring  in  one  way  or  another 
to  get  a glimpse,  by  means  of  messengers  let 
down  at  night,  as  Paul  was  in  a basket  from  the 
wall  of  Damascus,  or  by  purchasing  intelligence 
from  our  enemies. 

In  this  last  way  Colonel  Shiba  considered  him- 


Siege  of  the  Legations  in  Peking  105 

self  peculiarly  fortunate  in  finding  a man  who 
gave  him  daily  intelligence  of  the  approach  of 
our  relief.  One  day  they  had  reached  Lang 
Fang;  another,  they  had  got  to  Chang  Ivia  Wan, 
and,  after  passing  five  or  six  stations,  it  seemed 
as  if  they  were  just  about  to  reach  Peking,  when 
he  felt  it  necessary  to  turn  them  about  and  make 
them  fall  back  a stage  or  two  in  order  to  keep 
up  the  flow  of  remuneration.  He  was  paid  some 
thirty  dollars  a day  for  this  cheering  news. 
Needless  to  say  that  for  the  whole  of  it  he  had 
drawn  on  his  imagination. 

One  of  our  messengers  who  was  most  success- 
ful, having  succeeded  in  the  guise  of  a blind  beg- 
gar in  reaching  Tien  Tsin  and  bringing  back 
most  encouraging  letters,  was  a lad  of  sixteen. 
Though  not  a Christian,  he  had  begged  to  be 
taken  under  the  protection  of  a Christian  mis- 
sion, and  nobly  did  he  reward  their  kindness  by 
his  intrepidity.  Having  sewed  the  letters  be- 
tween the  soles  of  his  shoe  he  was  three  times 
searched  without  discovery. 

On  August  14th,  after  midnight,  a sentry  burst 
into  our  sleeping-room,  calling  aloud ; 

“ They  are  coming  1 ” 

The  Minister  and  myself  arose  and  rushed  out 
into  the  open  air,  not  requiring  time  to  put  on 


106  The  Siege  in  Peking 

our  clothes,  for  we  had  never  put  them  off.  True 
enough,  we  heard  the  playing  of  machine-guns 
on  the  outside  of  the  city.  Never  was  music  so 
sweet.  We  awakened  the  ladies.  They  also  lis- 
tened. The  news  spread  from  one  building  to 
another,  until  all  were  under  the  open  sky  listen- 
ing to  the  playing  of  those  guns,  as  the  women  at 
Lucknow  listened  to  the  bagpipes  of  Havelock’s 
Highlanders.  Overwhelmed  with  joy,  some  im- 
pulsive ladies  threw  themselves  on  each  other’s 
necks  and  wept  aloud. 

The  next  morning,  at  ten  o’clock,  the  great 
gates  of  the  legation  were  thrown  open,  and  in 
came  a company  of  mounted  Sihks,  perhaps  the 
finest  cavalry  I ever  beheld,  and  with  their  long 
spears  and  high  turbans  they  appeared  the  hand- 
somest men  on  whom  my  eyes  had  ever  rested. 
So,  perhaps,  by  the  magnifying  effect  of  time 
and  circumstance,  they  appeared  to  all  of  us  as 
the  vanguard  of  the  army  of  relief.  They  had 
come  in  through  the  water-gate,  by  which  the 
passage  would  have  been  impossible  but  for  the 
occupation  of  the  wall  by  our  marines. 

The  rest  of  our  troops,  of  various  nationalities, 
entered  later  in  the  day  by  the  great  front  gate, 
the  key  of  which  Mr.  Squiers,  acting  as  Chief 
of  Staff  to  Sir  Claude  MacDonald,  had  captured 


Siege  of  the  Legations  in  Peking  107 

from  the  flying  enemy.  He,  too,  is  one  of  the 
heroes  of  the  siege.  Many  others  there  are  whose 
names  I cannot  here  mention,  though  they  de- 
serve to  be  recorded  indelibly  on  the  roll  of 
fame. 

Deeply  sensible  of  the  difficulties  attending 
the  march  on  Peking,  and  knowing,  as  I did  not 
then,  the  cost  in  precious  lives  which  that  expe- 
dition for  our  rescue  required,  I have  no  words 
sufficient  to  express  my  admiration  or  my  grati- 
tude. Let  me  close  by  the  expression  of  one 
wish,  namely : that  those  forces  will  not  be  with- 
drawn until  full  security  is  obtained  against  the 
recurrence  of  a similar  outburst  of  pagan  fe- 
rocity. 

The  day  following  we  did  not  forget  to  ex- 
press our  thanks  to  a Higher  Power ; meeting  in 
the  open  air,  where,  after  the  reading  of  Te 
Deiim  Laudamus  by  the  British  chaplain,  Dr. 
Arthur  Smith  pronounced  a discourse,  in  which 
he  pointed  out  ten  particulars  showing  the  fin- 
ger of  God  in  our  rescue.  He  might  have  ex- 
tended them  to  a hundred. 


CHAPTER  VI 

ADDITIONAL  INCIDENTS  OF  THE  SIEGE 

A few  more  incidents  which  appear  to  be  worth 
recording  are,  for  obvious  reasons,  here  given  in 
a separate  chapter. 

Among  the  Roman  Catholic  missionaries,  one 
white-haired  father  especially  attracted  my  at- 
tention. I had  seen  him  walking  on  the  bank 
of  the  canal  amidst  a shower  of  bullets,  appar- 
ently courting  death,  yet  in  words  he  expressed 
the  hope  of  rescue. 

The  morning  of  our  deliverance  he  grasped 
my  hand,  and,  looking  up  with  streaming  eyes, 
exclaimed : “ Te  Deum,  Te  Deum,  Laudamus.” 
Setting  off  alone  without  escort  to  carry  the 
good  news  to  the  Bishop  at  the  northern  cathe- 
dral, he  was  shot  dead  cn  route  by  some  enemy 
in  ambush.  Mr.  Knobel,  the  Netherlands  Min- 
ister, was  wounded  in  the  same  way  the  day  after 
the  siege  was  raised,  while  standing  on  a bridge 
near  the  legation. 


108 


Additional  Incidents  of  the  Siege  109 

In  the  batch  of  Peking  Gazettes  referred  to  in 
the  former  chapter  as  brought  in  surreptitiously, 
there  were  several  decrees  of  considerable  inter- 
est. One  of  them  referred  to  the  murder  of  the 
Japanese  Chancelier  on  the  nth  of  June.  He 
had  gone  to  the  railway  station  in  the  hope  of 
getting  news  of  Seymour’s  relief  column.  He 
was  there  set  upon  by  soldiers  and  Boxers  com- 
bined, dragged  from  his  cart,  and  slain.  This 
being  nearly  a week  prior  to  the  capture  of  the 
forts,  the  Empress  Dowager,  wishing  still  to 
shun  responsibility,  issued  the  following  decree : 

“ On  hearing  this  intelligence  we  were  exceed- 
ingly grieved.  Officials  of  a neighboring  nation 
stationed  in  Peking  ought  to  be  protected  in 
every  possible  way.  Now,  especially,  should 
extra  care  be  taken  to  prevent  attacks  upon  them, 
when  desperate  characters  swarm  on  every  side. 
We  have  repeatedly  commanded  the  various 
local  officials  to  concert  measures  for  their  pro- 
tection, and  yet,  in  spite  of  our  orders,  we  hear 
of  the  murder  of  the  Chancelier  of  the  Japanese 
legation  here  in  the  capital  of  the  empire. 

“ Our  civil  and  military  officers  had  been 
anxiously  clearing  their  districts  of  bad  charac- 
ters. We  now  order  all  the  Yamens  concerned 
to  set  a limit  of  time  for  the  arrest  of  these  crim- 
inals, that  they  may  suffer  the  extreme  penalty 
of  the  law,”  etc.,  etc. 


no 


The  Siege  in  Peking 

A colored  print,  extensively  circulated  in 
Shanghai  and  elsewhere,  depicts  this  event  with 
a view  to  firing  the  loyal  heart,  representing  the 
murder  not  as  the  act  of  a mob,  but  as  an  execu- 
tion by  court  martial,  with  Boxers  drawn  up  in 
one  file  and  soldiers  in  another;  the  whole  pre- 
sided over  by  General  Sung,  a high  commander 
of  the  Imperial  forces. 

On  June  21st,  two  days  after  the  declaration  of 
war,  the  Dowager  sent  forth  a manifesto,  in  the 
name  of  the  Emperor,  for  the  purpose  of  announc- 
ing her  action  and  justifying  it  to  her  subjects: 

“ Ever  since  the  foundation  of  the  dynasty, 
foreigners  coming  to  China  have  been  kindly 
treated.  In  the  reign  of  Tao  Kwang  and  Hien 
Fung  they  were  allowed  to  trade,  and  to  propa- 
gate their  religion.  At  first  they  were  amenable 
to  Chinese  control,  but  for  the  past  thirty  years 
they  have  taken  advantage  of  our  forbearance  to 
encroach  on  our  territory,  to  trample  on  the 
Chinese  people,  and  to  absorb  the  wealth  of  the 
empire.  Every  concession  made  only  serves  to 
increase  their  insolence.  They  oppress  our 
peaceful  subjects,  and  insult  the  gods  and  sages, 
exciting  burning  indignation  among  the  people. 

“ Hence  the  burning  of  chapels  and  the  slaugh- 
ter of  converts  by  the  patriotic  braves.  (Scil. 
Boxers.) 

“ The  throne  was  anxious  to  avoid  war,  and 


CHINESE  VIEW  OE  T1IE  MURDER  OF  THE  JAPANESE  CHANDELIER, 
REGARDED  IIV  THEM  AS  AN  EXECUTION,  IN  THE  PRESENCE 
OF  CHINESE  TROOPS  AND  liOXERS. 


II.' 


Additional  Incidents  of  the  Siege  1 1 1 

issued  edicts  enjoining  protection  of  legations 
and  pity  toward  converts,  declaring  Boxers  and 
converts  to  be  equally  the  children  of  the  state. 
This  decree  we  issued  in  hope  of  removing  the 
old  feud  between  our  people  and  the  native 
Christians.  Extreme  kindness  was  shown  to  the 
strangers  from  afar,  but  these  people  knew  no 
gratitude,  and  increased  their  encroachments. 

“ A despatch  was  yesterday  sent  by  them  call- 
ing upon  us  to  deliver  up  the  Taku  forts  into 
their  keeping.  Otherwise  they  would  be  taken 
by  force.  These  threats  are  a sample  of  their  ag- 
gressive disposition  in  all  matters  relating  to 
international  intercourse.  We  have  never  been 
wanting  in  courtesy,  but  they,  while  styling  them- 
selves civilized  states,  have  acted  without  regard 
for  right,  relying  solely  on  their  military  prowess. 
We  have  now  reigned  nearly  thirty  years,  and 
have  treated  the  people  as  our  children,  while  the 
people  have  honored  us  as  their  deity.  In  the 
midst  of  our  reign  we  have  been  the  recipient  of 
the  gracious  favor  of  the  Empress  Dowager. 
Furthermore,  our  ancestors  have  come  to  our  aid. 
The  gods  have  answered  our  call,  and  never  has 
there  been  so  universal  a manifestation  of  loyalty 
and  patriotism. 

“ With  tears  have  we  announced  in  our  an- 
cestral shrines  the  outbreak  of  war.  Better  it  is 
to  do  our  utmost  and  enter  on  the  struggle  than 
to  seek  self-preservation  involving  eternal  dis- 
grace. All  our  officials,  high  and  low,  are  of  one 


112  The  Siege  in  Peking 

mind.  There  have  also  assembled,  without  of- 
ficial summons,  several  hundred  thousands  of 
patriotic  soldiers  (Boxers).  Even  children  carry 
spears  in  the  defence  of  their  country. 

“Our  trust  is  in  heaven’s  justice!  They  de- 
pend on  craft  and  violence.  Not  to  speak  of  the 
righteousness  of  our  cause,  our  Provinces  num- 
ber more  than  twenty,  our  people  over  four  hun- 
dred millions.  Surely  it  will  not  be  difficult  to 
vindicate  the  dignity  of  our  country,”  etc.,  etc. 

The  document  concludes  by  promising  re- 
wards to  those  who  distinguish  themselves  in 
battle,  or  subscribe  funds,  and  threatening  pun- 
ishment to  those  who  show  cowardice  or  act  with 
disloyalty. 

On  June  24th  the  Board  of  Revenue  is  ordered 
to  give  Kang  Yi  two  hundred  bags  of  rice  as  pro- 
vision for  general  distribution  among  the  Boxers. 

A decree  of  the  same  date  appoints  one  of  the 
princes  to  be  the  official  head  of  the  Boxer  or- 
ganization. It  says : 

“ Our  people  included  in  the  Boxer  organiza- 
tion are  scattered  all  over  the  regions  around  the 
metropolis  and  Tien  Tsin.  It  is  right  and  proper 
that  they  should  have  a Superintendent  placed 
over  them.  We  therefore  appoint  Prince 
Clniang  (a  first  cousin  of  the  Emperor)  and  the 
Grand  Secretary,  Kang  Yi,  to  be  in  general  com- 


Additional  Incidents  of  the  Siege  113 

mand  of  the  said  society.  We  also  order  Briga- 
dier-Generals Ying  Nien  and  Tsai  Lan  to  act  in 
co-operation  with  them. 

“ All  the  members  of  the  Boxer  Society  are 
exerting  their  utmost  energy,  and  the  Imperial 
family  must  not  fall  behind  in  its  efforts  to  take 
revenge  upon  our  enemies.” 

Nothing  could  show  more  distinctly  the  com- 
plicity of  the  government  in  the  Boxer  move- 
ment— and  its  responsibility  for  the  outrages  per- 
petrated by  the  Boxers — than  these  documents. 
Yet  our  admirals,  in  demanding  the  surrender  of 
the  forts,  took  care  to  announce  their  purpose  as 
that  of  coming  to  the  aid  of  the  government 
against  the  Boxers ! 

About  the  middle  of  July  a white  flag,  or 
rather  a white  sheet  of  paper,  was  displayed  on 
the  upper  bridge,  announcing  to  us,  in  large  let- 
ters visible  with  the  aid  of  a telescope,  that  “ we 
have  received  orders  to  protect  the  Foreign  Min- 
isters.” The  same  day,  a small  supply  of  mel- 
ons, vegetables,  and  flour  were  sent  in  to  us,  ac- 
companied by  overtures  for  an  armistice,  and 
proposing  that  Princes  Tuan  and  Clung  should 
be  admitted  to  an  interview.  The  melons  and 
fruits  were  eaten  with  gusto,  but  the  flour  was 
shunned  as  probably  not  conducive  to  health. 


114  The  Siege  in  Peking 

The  proposed  meeting  with  the  Princes  was  con- 
ceded, though  regarded  with  suspicion,  on  the 
principle, 

Timeo  Danaos  et  dona  ferentes. 

But  when  the  time  came,  they  failed  to  appear, 
excusing  themselves  on  the  ground  that  we  had 
not  observed  the  armistice,  and  had  killed  a vast 
number  of  their  people.  The  fact  is  that,  the 
very  day  on  which  they  showed  the  decree  or- 
dering protection  for  the  Ministers,  they  fired  on 
us  in  the  evening,  and  through  the  night  they 
were  seen  preparing  for  a general  assault,  which 
our  people  averted  by  a successful  sortie. 

For  a few  days  there  was  a slight  relaxation 
in  the  vigor  of  attack,  and  something  like  incipi- 
ent intercourse  began  to  show  itself.  Soldiers 
in  the  opposing  ranks  approached  and  conversed 
with  each  other.  A young  Frenchman,  who  had 
been  captured,  was  well  treated  by  the  enemy, 
and,  what  he  much  appreciated,  well  fed.  A de- 
serter from  our  ranks  was,  along  with  the 
young  Frenchman,  returned  to  us  with  compli- 
ments. 

The  ground  of  these  courtesies  we  now  know 
to  have  been  the  alarm  created  by  the  capture  of 
Tien  Tsin.  Immediately  after  that  event,  which 


Additional  Incidents  of  the  Siege  115 

occurred  on  the  14th  of  July,  Li  Hung  Chang 
was  appointed  Plenipotentiary  to  negotiate  by 
cable  for  a cessation  of  hostilities.  That  meant 
an  effort  to  stop  the  advance  on  Peking. 

It  was  during  this  time  that  the  good  offices  of 
our  Government,  as  well  as  those  of  the  Courts  of 
Europe  and  Japan,  were  solicited  by  China.  The 
Secretary  of  State  replied  by  demanding  a com- 
munication from  Minister  Conger  as  a condition 
indispensable  to  compliance  with  that  request. 
Our  Minister  was  accordingly  permitted  to  send 
a despatch  in  cipher,  which,  so  far  from  tending 
to  stop  the  advance  of  the  army  of  relief,  set  forth 
our  extreme  peril,  and  had  a mighty  influence 
in  quickening  their  movements. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  siege  the  daily  and 
nightly  attacks  upon  us  were  renewed  with  in- 
creasing fury — doubtless  because  their  efforts 
to  stop  the  advance  had  proved  abortive. 

The  deserter  above  referred  to  was  a Nor- 
wegian missionary,  Nestigard.  His  mind  had 
never  been  well  balanced,  and  he  is  the  man  of 
whom  we  have  spoken  as  going  stark  mad. 
Placed  under  surveillance  he  resented  restraint, 
and  in  the  night  made  his  escape.  In  a search- 
ing examination  at  the  head-quarters  of  Yung 
Lu,  he  no  doubt  revealed  all  he  knew  about  our 


n6  The  Siege  in  Peking 

situation : the  small  number  of  ponies  we  had 
left,  the  diminution  of  our  other  stores,  and  the 
imperfection  of  our  means  of  defence.  He  con- 
fessed to  having  told  the  enemy  that  the  reason 
why  they  killed  so  few  within  our  enclosure  was 
because  they  aimed  too  high.  It  was  the  gen- 
eral opinion  that  the  wretch  ought  to  be  shot. 
Sir  Claude  MacDonald,  however,  spared  him  on 
account  of  his  insanity,  and  from  that  day  it  took 
the  time  of  seven  men  to  guard  him  ! 

During  the  first  stage  of  the  siege  I noticed 
a handsome  young  lady,  one  of  the  guests  from 
abroad,  sitting  for  her  portrait,  while  a lady 
artist,  Miss  Payen,  with  untrembling  hand,  trans- 
ferred her  pleasing  features  to  canvas.  I won- 
dered at  the  composure  of  both.  Nor  was  my 
astonishment  diminished  when,  in  the  evening, 
I overheard  that  same  young  lady  saying  to  Cap- 
tain Myers : 

“ Now,  remember,  should  they  overpower  us, 
your  first  duty  will  be  to  shoot  me.” 

Another  lady,  the  mother  of  a family,  displayed 
equal  nerve.  Her  husband  had  given  her  a re- 
volver with  the  injunction,  in  the  case  supposed, 
first  to  shoot  her  daughters,  and  then  to  shoot 
herself,  if  he  should  not  be  at  hand  to  relieve  her 
of  that  painful  duty.  Both  he  and  she  are  good 


Additional  Incidents  of  the  Siege  117 

Christians,  and  it  is  believed  that  similar  arrange- 
ments were  made  in  the  case  of  every  woman 
within  the  legation.  In  our  circumstances  there 
was  no  time  for  casuistry. 

How  soon  our  protecting  wall  might  fall  a 
heap  of  ruins  no  one  could  tell ; but  sure  we  were 
that  the  enemy  were  undermining  it  night  and 
day.  Whether  the  countermining  operations 
would  prove  successful  was  far  from  certain. 
The  Chinese  are  peculiarly  skilful  in  this  mode 
of  attack.  They  had  tried  it  successfully  on  the 
French  legation,  which  was  almost  demolished. 
When  two  buildings  of  that  legation  were  blown 
into  the  air,  a sentry  on  the  roof  of  one  of  them, 
who  went  up  along  with  the  ruins,  came  down 
unhurt ! To  his  surprise,  he  found  himself  alive 
and  buried  to  the  chin  in  the  midst  of  debris. 

Though  we  tried  to  look  cheerful  and  to  feel 
hopeful,  yet  when  disappointed  in  our  expecta- 
tion of  speedy  relief,  we  were  led  to  fear  the 
worst,  we  said,  “ God’s  will  be  done.  If  we 
perish  our  blood  will  be  the  regeneration  of 
China.  As  our  Lord  shed  his  for  the  world,  it  is 
a small  thing  for  us  to  shed  ours  for  China.” 

What  wonder  that  in  those  dark  hours  we 
were  reported  as  slain  and  the  final  scene  de- 
picted in  shocking  detail,  our  likenesses  were 


1 1 8 The  Siege  in  Peking 

placed  on  the  pages  of  Magazines,  in  the  sable 
hues  of  mourning  accompanied  by  our  obituaries. 
It  is  not  always  a disadvantage  to  know  what  our 
friends  think  of  us.  If  the  reader  will  turn  to  the 
appendix  he  may  there  see  an  obituary  of  Sir  R. 
Hart,  which  shows  what  his  friends  think  of  him. 

Almost  from  the  beginning,  we  had  sought  to 
keep  up  our  courage  by  the  use  of  Scripture 
texts.  They  were  usually  supplied  by  Mrs.  Ar- 
thur Smith,  and  I posted  them  at  the  gate-house, 
hoping  they  might  catch  the  eye  of  some  who  had 
little  time  for  Scripture  reading.  One  day  she 
handed  me  a text  which  she  said  was  selected  for 
her  by  Mrs.  Conger,  who  met  with  it  in  her  daily 
reading.  We  were  all  struck  with  its  adaptation 
to  the  circumstances  in  which  we  were  then 
placed.  It  was  as  follows : 

“ We  would  not,  brethren,  have  you  ignorant 
of  our  trouble  which  came  to  us  in  Asia,  that  we 
were  pressed  out  of  measure,  above  strength,  in- 
somuch that  we  despaired  even  of  life ; but  we 
had  the  sentence  of  death  in  ourselves,  that  we 
should  not  trust  in  ourselves,  but  in  God  which 
raiseth  the  dead  ; who  delivered  us  from  so  great 
a death,  and  doth  deliver.  In  whom  we  trust 
that  he  will  yet  deliver  us.  Ye  also  helping  to- 
gether by  prayer  for  us,  that  for  the  gift  bestowed 
upon  us  by  the  means  of  many  persons  thanks 


Additional  Incidents  of  the  Siege  1 19 

may  be  given  by  many  on  our  behalf.” — 2 Cor. 
1 : 8-11. 


Whenever  I had  occasion  to  leave  the  gate 
during  those  long  summer  days  I usually  re- 
quested Dr.  Arthur  Smith  to  take  my  place  as 
Inspector  of  Passes.  He  always  spent  much 
time  sitting  by  my  side,  attracted  not  so  much 
by  the  charms  of  my  conversation  as  by  the  op- 
portunity which  that  post  afforded  for  observing 
the  life  and  manners  of  many  nationalities.  His 
conversation  I greatly  enjoyed,  and  I found  that 
even  the  gravity  of  our  situation  failed  to  repress 
his  flow  of  genial  humor.  A search  of  family 
records  would  probably  confirm  our  suspicion 
that  one  of  his  ancestors  was  named  Sidney. 

Pointing  to  Professor  Gamewell,  as  he  sped  to 
and  fro  on  his  bicycle  inspecting  our  defence 
works,  he  exclaimed : 

“ That  man  seems  to  be  a limited  omnipres- 
ence.” 

I cite  the  expression  not  so  much  for  its  nov- 
elty as  its  truth.  Gamewell  had  displayed  his 
skill  in  the  art  of  fortification  before  the  mission- 
aries took  refuge  in  the  legation.  The  several 
Protestant  missions  had  joined  their  forces  at  the 


120 


The  Siege  in  Peking 

extensive  grounds  of  the  Methodist  Mission,  and, 
supplied  with  a reinforcement  of  twenty  marines 
under  the  command  of  Captain  Hall,  they  re- 
solved to  maintain  the  position. 

On  the  death  of  Baron  Ivetteler,  to  their  great 
disappointment,  Captain  Hall  suddenly  gave  the 
order  for  its  evacuation. 

The  committees  which  they  had  there  formed 
for  defence  and  supply,  and  especially  the  experi- 
ence acquired,  came  into  play  at  the  British  lega- 
tion, where  Sir  Claude  MacDonald  welcomed 
them  with  as  much  cordiality  as  he  had  accorded 
to  the  people  of  the  legations. 

The  native  Christians  were,  as  we  have  said, 
also  welcomed,  sheltered,  and  defended,  though 
not  within  the  same  enclosure.  When  the  ques- 
tion had  come  up  in  regard  to  them  some  days 
previously  in  a council  of  the  Ministers,  some 
members  of  the  diplomatic  corps  objected  to  re- 
ceiving so  large  a body  of  natives  on  account  of 
the  danger  of  running  short  of  provisions.  The 
missionaries,  however,  had  resolved  to  live  or  die 
with  their  converts,  and  their  noble  devotion  was 
fully  appreciated  by  the  American  and  British 
Ministers,  as  well  as  by  the  greater  part  of  the 
diplomatic  body. 

Here  is  a letter  in  which  the  American  Minister 


Additional  Incidents  of  the  Siege  121 

gracefully  acknowledges  the  share  which  they 
and  the  missionaries  bore  in  the  work  of  defence  : 

Legation  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
Peking,  China,  August  18,  1900. 

To  the  Besieged  American  Missionaries: 

To  one  and  all  of  you,  so  providentially  saved 
from  threatened  massacre,  I beg,  in  this  hour  of 
our  deliverance,  to  express  what  I know  to  be 
tbe  universal  sentiments  of  the  Diplomatic  Corps, 
the  sincere  appreciation  of,  and  professed  pro- 
found gratitude  for  the  inestimable  help  which 
you  and  the  native  Christians  under  your  charge 
have  rendered  toward  our  preservation. 

Without  your  intelligent  and  successful  plan- 
ning and  the  uncomplaining  execution  of  the 
Chinese,  I believe  our  salvation  would  have  been 
impossible. 

By  your  courteous  consideration  of  me,  and 
your  continued  patience  under  most  trying  occa- 
sions, I have  been  deeply  touched,  and  for  it  all 
I thank  you  most  heartily. 

I hope  and  believe  somehow,  in  God’s  uner- 
ring plan,  your  sacrifices  and  dangers  will  bear 
rich  fruit  in  the  material  and  spiritual  welfare 
of  the  people  to  whom  you  have  so  nobly  de- 
voted your  lives  and  work. 

Assuring  you  of  my  personal  respect  and  grati- 
tude, believe  me, 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

E.  H.  Conger. 


(Signed) 


122 


The  Siege  in  Peking 

We  heard  with  much  satisfaction  that  Li  Hung 
Chang  had  been  appointed  to  negotiate  peace. 
A lover  of  his  country,  whatever  else  he  may  be, 
he  has  the  further  merit  of  being  loyal  to  the 
reigning  dynasty.  Unlike  the  Dowager,  he  has 
always  shown  himself  an  enlightened  friend  of 
progress.  No  statesman  of  China,  not  even  that 
southern  viceroy  whose  famous  book  points  out 
that  education  is  the  “ only  hope  of  China,”  can 
contest  with  him  the  palm  of  being  pre-eminently 
the  patron  of  the  New  Education.  Some  years 
ago  I published  a paper  in  a Chinese  magazine 
pointing  out  his  achievements  in  this  direction. 
He  was  greatly  pleased,  as  I was  informed  by  his 
private  secretary,  and  without  hesitation  con- 
tributed a laudatory  preface  to  a book  which  I 
had  prepared  on  “ Christian  Psychology.”  He 
had  written  similar  prefaces  for  several  scientific 
works  prepared  by  me  in  former  years.  His 
reading  of  those  works  may  not  have  disposed 
him  to  recommend  to  the  young  Emperor  the 
creation  of  a university  in  the  capital,  but  it  did 
induce  him  to  recommend  their  author  for  the 
presidency  of  that  institution. 

When  he  proposed  to  me  to  accept  the  posi- 
tion, I consented  to  undertake  it  for  two  or  three 
years,  alleging  my  age  as  a reason  for  not  think- 


LI  HUNG  CHANG 

CHINA  S GREATEST  STATESMAN  AND  PEACE  COMMISSIONER. 


Additional  Incidents  of  the  Siege  123 

ing  of  a longer  term  of  service.  Surveying  me 
from  head  to  foot,  “ I guess,”  said  he,  “ you’re 
good  for  another  ten  years : I wish  I had  your 
legs.”  (He  is  partially  paralyzed  in  his  lower 
limbs.) 

“ It  is  this  that  counts  with  a statesman,”  said 
I,  tapping  on  my  forehead. 

“ Ah,”  he  replied,  with  a smile,  “ but  you  are 
good  at  both  ends.” 

The  first  place  I visited  after  returning  to  the 
United  States  legation  was  the  new  university. 
I found  it  occupied  for  a barrack  by  Russian 
troops.  On  going  into  my  house,  a handsome 
building  in  Mandarin  style  newly  erected  for  the 
use  of  the  president,  I found  that  soldiers  (not 
Russian)  or  Boxers  had  smashed  every  article 
of  furniture,  and  dumped  all  my  books,  as  well 
as  those  of  the  university,  including  valuable  col- 
lections of  Chinese  authors,  into  the  wells  and 
cisterns.  What  wonder  when  they  had  trodden 
under  foot,  or  burnt  to  ashes,  the  magnificent 
library  of  the  Hanlin  Academy ! My  books  they 
subjected  to  immersion  rather  than  conflagra- 
tion, because  the  building,  having  been  a princely 
palace,  they  were  forbidden  to  destroy  by  fire. 

The  wires  of  a piano  and  the  lungs  of  a 
melodeon  lay  scattered  about  the  floor,  and  on 


124  The  Siege  in  Peking 

every  side  were  to  be  seen  fragments  of  Broken 
China. 

The  telegraph  informs  us  that  the  Russians,  in 
whose  bank  they  are  deposited,  have  announced 
their  intention  to  confiscate  the  funds  of  the  uni- 
versity. After  paying  off  our  professors,  on  my 
requisition,  they  declined  to  go  on  paying  in- 
definitely— and  declared  to  me  their  purpose  to 
hold  the  funds  in  payment  of  Russian  claims. 
Will  Li  Hung  Chang,  its  founder  and  patron, 
consent  to  an  act  of  spoliation  so  opposed  to  the 
usages  of  civilized  nations ! 

No  man  is  more  sensible  to  the  estimate  in 
which  he  is  held  in  Western  countries.  Four 
years  ago  I called  on  him,  along  with  the  Rev. 
Gilbert  Reid,  to  solicit  a letter  of  recommenda- 
tion for  an  educational  enterprise  (the  Interna- 
tional Institute)  which  Mr.  Reid  had  taken  in 
hand. 

“ Why!”  said  Li  Hung  Chang,  “has  not  the 
Yamen  already  given  him  a letter  of  recom- 
mendation ? ” (It  had  been  done  at  Li’s  in- 
stance.) 

“ True,”  said  I ; “ but  the  Western  world  don’t 
know  anything  about  the  Tsung  Li  Yamen.” 

“ What ! ” exclaimed  Li.  “ Don’t  they  know 
that  we  have  a waipu — a foreign  office?  ” 


Additional  Incidents  of  the  Siege  125 

“ Yes,”  said  I,  “ but  there  are  only  two  names 
in  all  China  that  they  know  anything  about — one 
is  Confucius,  the  other  is  Li  Hung  Chang.” 

He  smiled  from  ear  to  ear,  and  said,  “ I’ll  give 
it,”  immediately  writing  a most  flattering  testi- 
monial. 


CHAPTER  VII 


RESCUE  AND  RETRIBUTION 

We  had  feared,  not  without  reason,  that  the 
Chinese  forces  which  had  gone  out  to  meet  the 
army  of  relief  might,  on  being  vanquished,  re- 
treat to  the  city,  reinforce  our  assailants,  and  de- 
stroy 11s  all  before  succor  could  arrive.  This 
they  took  care  not  to  do,  after  their  experience 
of  European  arms ; yet  certain  it  is  that  our  be- 
siegers renewed  their  attacks  with  increasing 
fury  as  our  friends  approached  the  wall.  Gen- 
eral Tung  Fu  Siang  even  promised  the  Dowager 
to  wipe  us  out  in  five  days.  The  attack  on  the 
night  of  the  13th  of  August  was  unusually  ter- 
rific, and  we  looked  forward  with  no  little  appre- 
hension to  what  might  happen  on  the  following 
night.  Happily,  before  the  following  night  the 
rescue  was  effected,  and  our  enemies  dispersed. 
Said  General  Chaffee  to  me : 

“ It  is  lucky  that  we  arrived  one  day  ahead  of 
time.  The  leaders  had  agreed  to  attack  the  city 
126 


Rescue  and  Retribution  127 

on  the  15th,  but  the  Russians,  from  whatever 
motive,  having  stolen  a march  on  us,  it  was  im- 
possible for  the  rest  of  us  to  be  left  behind,  and 
so  we  all  pressed  forward  to  be  ready  to  make 
the  assault  on  the  14th.  As  we  were  bivouacked 
near  the  city  on  the  night  of  the  13th,  I heard  the 
roar  of  Chinese  guns  playing  on  the  legation, 
and  I said,  ‘ I fear  we  are  already  too  late.’  I 
could  not  sleep  for  anxiety.” 

The  Russians  were  no  doubt  animated  by  the 
same  feeling,  and  thus  providentially  the  enemy 
had  no  opportunity  to  renew  their  attack. 

I felt  proud  of  my  country  when  I learned  how 
our  Republic  had  stretched  out  her  mighty  arms 
to  protect  her  citizens  beyond  the  sea ; and  how 
promptly  our  President  had  assumed  the  respon- 
sibility of  action.  And  how  proud  I felt  of  our 
countrymen  when  I heard  the  story  of  their  valor 
as  exhibited  in  the  march  from  the  sea  1 

On  the  17th  of  June  the  admirals  demanded 
the  surrender  of  the  forts,  in  their  ignorance  pro- 
fessing only  to  desire  to  aid  the  government 
against  the  Boxers.  The  American  admiral,  I 
regret  to  say,  declined  to  join  in  the  demand  or 
to  participate  in  the  assault.  By  what  means  he 
and  our  commanders  were  brought  to  change 
their  views,  I know  not ; but  in  the  subsequent 


128  The  Siege  in  Peking 

operations  Americans  have  no  reason  to  be 
ashamed  of  their  record. 

In  1858  I had  seen  those  forts  silenced  and 
captured  in  twenty  minutes.  In  1859  I had  wit- 
nessed the  defeat  of  a combined  squadron  of  thir- 
teen English  and  French  gun-boats  by  those 
same  forts,  nor  was  I without  fear  that  on  this 
occasion,  strengthened  as  they  had  been  by  all 
the  arts  of  modern  warfare,  they  might  have 
proved  too  strong  for  the  attacking  force.  His- 
tory might,  indeed,  have  had  to  chronicle  another 
defeat  but  for  an  unforeseen  circumstance.  The 
Chinese  gunners  had  trained  their  heavy  artillery 
on  the  gun-boats,  but,  swinging  with  the  tide, 
they  all  shifted  their  position  except  one.  That 
one  alone  was  struck  when  the  firing  commenced. 

The  return  fire  from  the  gun-boats  soon  si- 
lenced the  batteries,  and  the  Chinese  artillery- 
men took  to  flight.  In  their  haste  they  forgot  to 
break  down  a draw-bridge ; a storming  party 
succeeded  in  passing  over  without  opposition, 
and  the  flags  of  the  Allies  were  soon  floating  on 
their  ramparts. 

The  advance  to  Tien  Tsin  was  stoutly  opposed  ; 
the  Chinese  in  many  instances  fighting  with 
great  bravery.  Three  times  at  least  was  the 
American  contingent  repulsed,  but,  undismayed, 


Rescue  and  Retribution 


129 


their  brave  officers  led  them  on,  and  they  con- 
tributed no  small  share  to  the  relief  of  the  be- 
leaguered settlement.  In  those  battles  Colonel 
Liscum  lost  his  life,  and  not  a few  of  his  men 
fell  with  him. 

For  ten  days  the  foreign  settlement  had  been 
closely  pressed  by  the  enemy;  square  miles  of 
native  houses  were  reduced  to  ashes ; the  Hongs 
of  foreign  merchants  were  battered  down,  and 
their  palatial  residences  were  left  in  ruins.  The 
women  and  children  of  the  community  were 
huddled  together  in  the  basement  of  Gordon 
Hall  to  get  shelter  from  the  bomb-shells,  and  the 
upper  stories  of  that  fine  edifice  threatened  every 
moment  to  come  down  upon  their  heads. 

On  the  23d  their  deliverers  appeared  on  the 
opposite  bank  of  the  river  (the  Russians  first), 
and  they  were  saved.  It  was  not,  however,  until 
three  weeks  later  that  the  Allies  were  able  to 
force  their  way  into  the  citadel  of  the  native 
town. 

The  n^xt  step  was  to  move  on  the  capital,  dis- 
tant eighty  miles.  The  combined  forces  selected 
for  that  expedition  did  not  much  exceed  15,000 
men — a strong  detachment  having  been  left  be- 
hind for  the  protection  of  Tien  Tsin.  Their 
march  was  not  begun  until  the  1st  of  August, 


130  The  Siege  in  Peking 

and  it  is  said  that,  owing  to  the  heat  and  the  rainy 
season,  some  of  the  commanders  were  in  favor 
of  postponing  the  advance  until  September.  But 
General  Gaselee,  in  command  of  the  British 
forces,  and  General  Chaffee,  in  command  of  the 
American  forces,  supported  by  the  Japanese,  in- 
sisted on  going  forward  without  delay.  The 
question  was  decided  by  the  bold  declaration  of 
General  Gaselee  that  should  all  others  refuse  to 
proceed  he,  with  the  British  contingent,  would  at 
once  push  on  to  Peking.  But  for  this  prompt 
action  their  work  would  have  been  that  of  venge- 
ance, not  rescue. 

At  two  or  three  points  on  the  way  they  en- 
countered even  fiercer  opposition  than  before ; 
but,  cutting  their  way  through  overwhelming 
bodies  of  native  troops,  they  pressed  steadily 
forward. 

We  had  some  intimation  of  the  commencement 
of  their  march,  but  of  their  progress  we  heard 
nothing;  and,  as  day  succeeded  day  during  that 
tedious  fortnight,  we  speculated  much  on  the 
composition  of  the  force,  and  the  disposition  of  its 
leaders,  and  we  feared  that  political  jealousies, 
rather  than  the  prowess  of  the  enemy,  had  held 
them  in  check.  We  suspected  that  General  Mis- 
management was  responsible  for  this  delay ; and 


Rescue  and  Retribution  131 

some  one  suggested  that,  whoever  led  the  di- 
visions, the  whole  movement  must  be  under  the 
command  of  General  Slowcome. 

The  resistance  offered  by  the  garrison  on  the 
outer  walls  was  not  of  long  duration.  The  fate 
of  the  capital  was  decided  by  the  fall  of  Tien 
Tsin,  and  the  battles  at  intermediate  points  in- 
spired the  Government  and  its  armies  with  the 
utmost  terror.  After  a short  struggle,  the  sol- 
diers who  held  the  walls  fled  in  confusion,  and 
our  troops  entered  in  triumph. 

The  Empress  Dowager  and  her  Court  made 
their  escape  from  the  Western  gates  almost  at 
the  moment  when  our  deliverers  were  battering 
down  the  Eastern  gates.  More  than  half  the 
population  abandoned  their  dwellings,  and  fled 
from  the  city.  In  their  haste,  they  left  behind 
them  wardrobes  filled  with  costly  furs,  their  floors 
were  strewn  with  the  richest  silks ; and  in  some 
cases  the  whole  ground  was  covered  with  nug- 
gets of  silver.  What  a temptation  to  plunder ! 
The  punishment  of  the  guilty  city  would  not  have 
been  too  severe  had  it  been  formally  given  up 
to  be  sacked  by  the  soldiery.  It  was  not  formally 
given  up  to  pillage,  but  the  commanders,  though 
announcing  their  intention  to  forbid  looting, 
appeared  to  be  in  no  hurry  to  impose  a 


132  The  Siege  in  Peking 

check  on  the  mingled  wrath  and  cupidity  of  their 
men. 

The  old  practice  is  dear  to  the  hearts  of  the 
soldiery.  There  is  no  nation  whose  soldiers  have 
not  taken  part  in  it ; whether  from  a feeling 
that  in  so  doing  they  are  wreaking  well-merited 
vengeance  on  the  Chinese  people,  or  whether 
because  fruit  is  the  more  attractive  in  conse- 
quence of  being  forbidden,  it  is  bard  to  say. 
At  all  events,  the  expected  prohibition  was  long 
delayed,  giving  many  of  them  time  to  fill  their 
pockets  and  their  knapsacks.  I even  heard  of  a 
soldier  who  had  loaded  a wheelbarrow  with  nug- 
gets of  silver.  Having  his  attention  called  by  a 
comrade  to  some  pieces  that  were  spilled  over 
by  the  jolting  of  the  vehicle,  he  laughed  and  said, 
“ No  matter,  you  take  care  of  them.” 

He  was,  in  fact,  impatient  to  convey  his  booty 
to  a place  of  safety.  A secure  place  for  it  was 
not  easy  to  find ; as  all  were  apprehensive  that 
they  would  be  called  on  to  surrender  it,  they  did 
their  utmost  to  get  rid  of  it  as  soon  as  possible, 
hence  the  immense  amount  of  bullion  offered  for 
sale  in  little  driblets  by  individual  soldiers,  who 
appeared  to  be  straggling  here  and  there  in  quest 
of  something.  That  something  was  not  more 
booty,  but  a purchaser  for  what  they  had.  It 


Rescue  and  Retribution  133 

was  impossible  to  pass  through  the  street  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  Great  Front  Gate  without  encoun- 
tering soldiers  of  various  nationalities  who,  mak- 
ing signs  to  the  passer-by,  stealthily  drew  from 
their  sleeves  or  pockets  silver,  gems,  small  works 
of  art,  and  curios  of  all  descriptions,  which  were 
not  too  large  to  be  concealed  about  the  person. 

In  this  matter,  as  in  others,  there  is  a wide  dif- 
ference to  be  observed  in  the  degree  of  restraint 
imposed  by  the  several  countries.  Some  of  them 
allow  their  soldiers  practically  unlimited  license, 
others,  notably  the  British  Generals,  forbid  all 
private  embezzlement,  and  collect,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, every  sort  of  plunder  into  a common  stock 
to  be  sold  at  auction  for  the  common  benefit. 
Hence  it  was  that  for  weeks  caravans  of  mules 
and  donkeys,  and  oftentimes  long  trains  of  wag- 
ons, all  under  the  British  or  Japanese  flags,  might 
be  seen  wending  their  way  to  the  head-quarters 
of  one  or  other  of  those  nations,  laden  with 
abandoned  treasure,  silks,  furs,  and  grain. 

Of  the  public  treasures,  the  Japanese,  know- 
ing the  exact  points  to  seize  on,  succeeded  in  get- 
ting the  lion’s  share.  As  to  private  property, 
much  of  it  was  abandoned,  without  a policeman, 
a domestic,  or  even  a dog  for  its  protection,  so 
that  it  was  wholly  at  the  mercy  of  the  first- 


134  The  Siege  in  Peking 

comer.  What  wonder,  then,  that  for  several  days 
the  soldiers  of  all  nationalities  repaid  themselves 
for  hardship  and  danger  by  rioting  in  the  midst 
of  booty. 

Well  were  it  had  they  confined  themselves  to 
the  looting  of  empty  houses.  Some  of  them,  I 
blush  to  say,  violated  the  sacredness  of  the  homes 
of  poor  families  who  had  been  unable  to  make 
their  escape.  The  greatest  number  of  outrages 
of  this  description  were  charged  on  a battalion 
of  Chinese  soldiery  from  Wei  Hai  Wei,  who 
fought  under  the  British  flag,  and  were  led  by 
British  officers.  Though  they  have  learned 
British  discipline,  they  have  not  acquired  British 
morals. 

The  missionaries  and  their  converts,  eman- 
cipated from  duress  but  without  a house  of  their 
own  to  which  they  could  return,  were  permitted 
by  the  military  authorities  to  find  quarters  for 
themselves  in  any  of  the  abandoned  houses  they 
might  choose  to  occupy.  With  this  wide  range 
of  selection,  some  installed  themselves,  with  their 
flocks,  in  the  mansions  of  princes ; others  occu- 
pied the  houses  of  lesser  nobility,  or  wealthy 
mandarins.  Nor  were  those  authorities  slow  to 
exercise  a similar  liberty  on  their  own  account. 
Places  more  august  and  sacred  than  princes’ 


Rescue  and  Retribution 


!35 

mansions  were  seized  for  their  own  use  and  that 
of  their  soldiers.  General  Gaselee  pitched  his 
camp  within  the  holy  grounds  (the  tcmenos)  of 
the  temple  of  Heaven,  and  made  his  head-quar- 
ters in  the  Emperor’s  carriage  park.  The  Amer- 
icans took  possession  of  the  Temple  of  Agri- 
culture, where  the  Emperor  prays  in  person  for 
a good  harvest. 

In  a commodious  but  not  imposing  building,  I 
passed  a few  days  under  the  hospitable  care  of  the 
ladies  of  the  Presbyterian  Mission.  While  there, 
the  missionaries  having  gone  out,  I was  called  by 
my  servants  to  see  a foreigner  who  had  come  in 
without  sending  his  card.  I found  him  making 
his  exit  from  the  apartments  of  the  Rev.  J.  L. 
Whiting,  with  Mr.  Whiting’s  rifle  in  one  hand 
and  his  revolver  in  the  other.  He  was,  I am  sorry 
to  say,  a white  man,  and,  laying  down  the  weap- 
ons on  my  demand,  he  confessed  himself  an 
American ! 

The  missionaries  being  in  great  anxiety  as  to 
a food-supply  for  their  converts,  accompanied  by 
Rev.  Dr.  Wherry  and  Rev.  J.  L.  Whiting,  I pro- 
ceeded to  do  a little  looting  on  their  behalf. 

I had  heard  of  a deserted  grain-shop  in  the 
inner  city,  close  to  the  university.  There  we  dis- 
covered a considerable  store  of  wheat,  millet, 


136  The  Siege  in  Peking 

and  other  grain.  Loading  it  in  carts,  we  carried 
away  not  less  than  two  hundred  bushels.  Call- 
ing aloud  to  the  proprietor,  I informed  him  that 
on  the  presentation  of  his  bill  I would  pay  the 
full  value  of  his  property,  but  echo  was  the  only 
answer  that  returned. 

The  Rev.  E.  G.  Tewkesbury,  who,  during  the 
siege  had  been  Chief  of  Commissariat,  now 
showed  that  he  knew  well  how  to  obtain  supplies 
for  his  needy  Christians.  The  American  Board 
Mission  being  installed  in  a prince’s  mansion,  he 
discovered  there  and  in  neighboring  buildings 
large  quantities  of  furs,  silks,  and  other  valu- 
ables, which,  having  previously  advertised  them 
to  the  army  and  the  legations,  he  sold  at  public 
auction  for  the  benefit  of  native  converts.  Of 
those  things,  Mr.  Squiers,  the  gallant  Secretary 
of  the  United  States  legation,  became  a large 
purchaser,  and  the  Rev.  W.  B.  Stelle,  a self-sup- 
porting missionary,  who,  before  the  siege,  had 
along  with  Dr.  Ament  made  a notable  excursion 
through  regions  infested  by  Boxers,  and  who 
during  the  siege  had  done  yeoman’s  duty  in  bear- 
ing arms,  now  purchased  four  boxes  of  furs  to 
be  sold  in  New  York  for  the  benefit  of  suffering 
Christians.  So  much  for  the  charges  of  looting 
that  have  been  brought  against  missionaries ! 


Rescue  and  Retribution  137 

Gladly  do  I share  in  the  blame  which  they  incur, 
and  confess  myself  equally  guilty  with  them, 
though  the  only  object  which  I appropriated  to 
my  own  use  was  a goat-skin  rug.  This  I found 
on  the  floor  of  a nice  house  which  my  servants 
chose  for  me  just  at  the  west  side  of  the  Great 
Front  Gate.  That  building  I occupied  alone  for 
a few  days,  and  whenever  I went  out  it  was  sure 
to  be  invaded  by  straggling  soldiers  of  various 
nationalities — Hindoo,  Russian,  or  American — 
who  carried  away  some  things ; and,  as  my  ser- 
vants said,  threatened  to  split  open  my  trunks  to 
get  at  their  contents,  suspecting  that  they  were 
full  of  loot.  So  frequently  did  this  occur  that  I 
felt  compelled  to  seek  an  abode  along  with  oth- 
ers, where  we  could  have  the  benefits  of  mutual 
protection. 

The  great  metropolis  was  subdivided  between 
the  various  divisions  of  the  conquering  force. 
The  northern  half  of  the  Tartar  City  was  occu- 
pied by  the  Japanese;  the  central  portion,  to- 
gether with  a part  of  the  inner,  or  Imperial,  city 
by  the  Russians,  who  erected  batteries  on  the 
beautiful  hill  within  the  Imperial  Gardens,  and 
seized  our  new  university  for  barracks. 

The  portions  which  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  other 
six  nations  it  is  unnecessary  to  point  out.  All 


138  The  Siege  in  Peking 

those  divisions  were  signalized  as  under  the  con- 
trol of  some  foreign  power  by  the  display  on  all 
public  buildings  of  one  or  other  of  their  Eight 
Banners. 

The  Eight  Banners  of  the  Manchus  were  no- 
where to  be  seen,  but,  in  their  stead,  floated  from 
innumerable  private  dwellings  small  copies  of 
those  foreign  flags,  inscribed  with  Chinese  let- 
ters, indicating  that  their  occupants  “ were  faith- 
ful subjects  of  the  Great  Sunrise  Empire”;  or, 
“ Submissive  to  the  sway  of  the  Russian  Czar  ” ; 
or,  “ Humble  subjects  of  the  great  United 
States,”  etc. 

On  some  of  them  might  be  read  an  inscription 
in  “ pidgin  ” English,  or  bad  French : 

“ We  be  good  people — no . makee  bobbery ! 
Please,  don’t  shoot.” 

So  effectually  cowed  were  these  lately  bellig- 
erent multitudes  that,  had  they  been  required  to 
worship  the  Crucifix  and  submit  to  Christian 
baptism,  they  would  have  shown  no  hesitation  in 
doing  so. 

The  proud  city,  the  Babylon  of  the  East,  is 
brought  down  to  the  dust.  Her  gate-towers 
have  been  burned : some  by  her  own  people,  oth- 
ers by  the  conquering  army ; of  her  public  build- 
ings some  have  been  destroyed  by  the  foreign 


Rescue  and  Retribution  139 

legions  ; but  destruction  on  a larger  scale  in  every 
quarter  has  been  perpetrated  by  the  mad  fury  of 
the  Boxers.  It  will  take  half  a century  to  restore 
its  former  splendor. 

Yet  did  the  Allies,  in  the  midst  of  this  devasta- 
tion, purposely  spare  the  Imperial  palaces.  In 
i860  the  Anglo-French  expedition  destroyed  the 
summer-palace,  as  a punishment  for  an  outrage 
on  a flag  of  truce.  Would  not  the  Allies  on  this 
occasion  have  been  fully  justified  in  blowing  up 
the  palace  of  the  Empress  Dowager,  as  a punish- 
ment for  her  perfidy  and  cruelty?  They  chose, 
instead,  merely  to  make  a triumphal  march  into 
the  penetralia  of  the  Forbidden  City,  in  order  to 
impress  the  Chinese  Court  with  a sense  of  hu- 
miliation, and  convince  the  Chinese  people  of  the 
victory  of  the  foreign  forces.  They  hope  that 
the  Emperor  and  his  Court  may  be  induced  to 
return  to  that  magnificent  abode.  May  they  not 
be  mistaken  in  this  expectation?  For  is  it  not 
well  known  that  there  are  certain  birds  which, 
when  you  so  much  as  touch  the  interior  of  their 
nest,  never,  under  any  circumstances,  return  to 
occupy  it  again  ? 

Pao  Ting  Fu,  the  capital  of  the  province,  as 
the  scene  of  unheard-of  atrocities,  has  been  oc- 
cupied by  a joint  expedition  of  British,  German, 


140  The  Siege  in  Peking 

and  French;  its  walls  broken  down,  some  of  its 
public  buildings  destroyed,  and  some  of  its  high- 
est officials  condemned  to  death.  The  city  has 
been  intentionally  subjected  to  disgrace.  It  de- 
serves to  be  sown  with  salt. 

Tai  Yuen,  the  capital  of  the  neighboring 
Province  of  Shansi,  deserves  a similar  fate,  for 
there  it  was  that  the  truculent  Governor,  Yu 
Hien,  imbrued  his  hands  in  the  blood  of  over 
fifty  missionaries.  Ninety-three  in  all,  Catholic 
and  Protestant,  are  reported  as  having  perished 
in  this  tempest  of  fire  and  blood.  The  details  of 
their  sufferings  will  not  bear  repetition,  yet  we 
may  say  of  them,  as  an  English  poet  says  of  the 
victims  of  the  Sepoy  Mutiny,  that 

“ Every  outraged  woman  died  a virgin  undefiled, 

And  every  hewn-up  infant  was  a Bethlehem’s  holy 
child.” 

If  few  foreigners  outside  of  the  missionary 
circle  lost  their  lives,  it  was  because  there  were 
few,  or  none,  exposed  to  the  savage  foe  in  un- 
protected places.  Little  cared  that  savage  foe 
whether  they  wreaked  their  vengeance  on  church 
or  railway.  Anything  foreign  was  to  them  like 
a red  rag  to  an  infuriated  bull.  In  one  of  their 


Rescue  and  Retribution  141 

manifestoes  they  ended  by  saying : “ When  we 
have  slaughtered  them  all,  we  shall  tear  up  the 
railways,  cut  down  the  telegraphs,  and  then  fin- 
ish off  by  burning  their  steamboats.” 


CHAPTER  VIII 


RECONSTRUCTION 

The  telegraph  informs  us  that  the  represent- 
atives of  the  great  powers  in  China  are  substan- 
tially agreed  as  to  the  demands  they  are  to  make 
upon  the  Chinese  Government.  It  remains  to 
be  seen  whether  a government  exists  capable  of 
complying  with  those  demands,  or  willing  to  do 
so.  That  the  Court  will  never  consent  to  the 
humiliation  of  returning  to  Peking,  to  lay  its 
neck  beneath  the  headsman’s  axe,  is  highly 
probable.  Nor  is  it  unlikely  that  it  will  prove 
itself  utterly  unable  to  sustain  the  debt  which  it 
must  incur  to  indemnify  eight  foreign  nations 
for  a long  campaign,  and  their  people,  together 
with  a large  body  of  native  Christians  for  the  de- 
struction of  their  property. 

The  war  must  go  on  until  the  Manchu  Gov- 
ernment consents  to  do  this,  and  to  give  suitable 
guarantees  against  the  recurrence  of  any  similar 
uprising  in  the  future.  They  must  be  disarmed, 
and  rendered  incapable  of  again  jeopardizing  the 


142 


Reconstruction 


H3 


peace  of  the  civilized  world.  The  tiger’s  teeth 
must  be  drawn,  his  claws  cut  short  by  the  de- 
struction of  his  arsenals,  and  a prohibition  be 
placed  on  the  importation  of  munitions  of  war. 
Let  China  be  compelled  to  march  in  the  van  of 
those  nations  of  whom  it  is  said,  “ they  shall  learn 
war  no  more.” 

It  is  related  of  a Methodist  preacher  that  a 
notorious  bully  swore  that  the  next  time  he  came 
around  he  would  put  a stop  to  his  psalm-singing 
and  his  exhortations.  He,  however,  reckoned 
without  his  host,  for  the  preacher  was  himself  a 
Boxer,  and,  when  attacked,  succeeded  in  less  than 
no  time  in  flooring  his  antagonist.  Jumping 
astride  of  him,  he  pounded  away  until  the  by- 
standers begged  him  to  let  the  poor  devil  up. 

“ No,”  said  he,  “ I will  not  let  the  devil  up. 
My  object  is  to  keep  the  devil  down ; nor  will  I 
cease  pounding  until  this  wretched  man  promises 
to  seek  the  salvation  of  his  soul.” 

This  is  what  I would  have  the  Allies  do  in  the 
case  of  China.  I would  have  no  state  church 
established  in  any  portion  of  that  empire ; but 
our  worst  enemy  in  the  last  resort  is  heathen 
darkness,  and,  if  we  would  not  let  the  “ devil  up  ” 
to  attack  us  again,  we  must  wage  war  on  the 
powers  of  darkness  until  the  true  light  shall  be 


144  The  Siege  in  Peking 

allowed  to  shine  without  hindrance  into  every 
nook  and  corner  of  the  land. 

There  must  be  no  abridgment  of  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  missionaries ; no  relaxation  in 
the  efforts  of  the  home  churches.  The  wondrous 
awakening,  comparable  to  a shaking  among  the 
dry  bones,  which  took  place  during  the  short 
interval  preceding  the  Dowager’s  unlucky  coup 
d’etat  is  sure  to  be  succeeded  by  a national 
resurrection  on  a much  broader  scale.  We  may 
justly  look  for  novits  or  do  scclorum,  to  begin  with 
the  twentieth  century.  Let  America,  as  she  has 
so  nobly  borne  her  part  in  the  rescue  of  the  lega- 
tions, bear  her  full  share  in  the  Christian  crusade 
of  the  coming  age. 

American  interests  of  all  kinds  are  striking 
their  roots  deep  into  the  soil  of  China.  Among 
the  railways  radiating  from  Hankow,  that  great 
centre  of  population,  wealth,  and  power,  no  line 
will  exceed  in  importance  that  which  an  Ameri- 
can Company  has  laid  out  through  Hunan, 
Kwangsi,  and  Kwangtung  to  the  seaport  of 
Canton.  To  such  enterprises  increased  value  is 
given  by  the  resolution  of  the  powers  to  main- 
tain, if  possible,  the  integrity  of  the  empire.  The 
open  door  appears  to  be  their  settled  policy.  Let 
the  door  be  forever  open  to  light  as  well  as  to 


Reconstruction  145 

trade.  We  are  informed  that,  of  all  the  higher 
institutions  established  in  late  years  for  the  edu- 
cation of  the  people  of  China,  there  is  not  one  that 
has  not  had  an  American  citizen  at  its  head.  Let 
the  number  of  such  be  multiplied,  and  not  dimin- 
ished, in  years  to  come. 

The  representatives  of  the  powers  agree,  we 
are  told,  in  proposing  to  recall  the  Emperor.  So 
natural  is  this  idea  that  no  one  can  claim  orig- 
inality for  having  hit  upon  it,  yet  the  present 
writer  was  perhaps  the  first  to  propose  it  as  the 
basis  for  a scheme  of  reconstruction. 

My  views  on  the  subject  were  reduced  to  writ- 
ing as  early  as  the  middle  of  June,  and  put  in  print 
shortly  after  the  raising  of  the  siege.  They  are 
here  copied  from  the  Peking  and  Tien  Tsin  Times 
of  September  15,  1900: 

■ THE  PROBLEM  OF  RECONSTRUC- 
TION.' 

By  Dr.  W.  A.  P.  Martin,  of  Peking. 

“ It  may,  perhaps,  add  somewhat  to  the  interest 
of  the  following  paragraphs  to  know  that  they 
were  written  at  the  beginning  of  the  siege,  and 
at  that  time  placed  in  the  hands  of  some  of  the 
diplomats  in  the  capital.  Now,  after  the  flight 
of  the  Dowager  and  Court,  I find  in  them  noth- 
ing to  alter  or  modify,  and,  to  make  this  appar- 


146  The  Siege  in  Peking 

ent,  I reproduce  the  original  with  quotation 
marks : 

“ ‘ The  question  of  the  hour  is  how  to  restore 
order,  and  at  the  same  time  secure  the  fruits  of 
a revolution  which  has  so  unexpectedly  placed 
the  fate  of  China  in  the  hands  of  foreign  Powers. 
Four  measures  appear  to  cover  the  ground : 

“ ‘ I.  To  undo  the  mischief  done  by  her,  let  the 
Empress  Dowager  be  sent  into  exile,  and  let  the 
Emperor  be  restored  to  his  proper  authority,  sub- 
ject to  a concert  of  the  great  Powers. 

“ ‘ 2.  Let  all  the  acts  of  the  Empress  Dowager, 
beginning  with  her  coup  d'etat  and  including  the 
appointment  of  her  partisans,  be  cancelled,  ex- 
cept such  as  are  approved  by  the  new  administra- 
tion. 

“ ‘ 3.  Let  the  Emperor’s  programme  of  reform 
be  resumed,  and  carried  out  with  the  sanction  of 
the  Powers. 

“ ‘ 4.  Let  the  Powers  mark  out  their  spheres  of 
interest,  and  each  appoint  a representative  to 
control  the  action  of  provincial  governments 
within  its  own  sphere. 

“ ‘ For  China,  complete  independence  is  neither 
possible  nor  advisable.  The  above  plan  would 
keep  existing  machinery  in  operation,  avert  an- 
archy, favor  progress,  and  conciliate  the  support 
of  the  most  enlightened  among  the  Chinese  peo- 
ple. The  alternative  is  the  overthrow  of  the 
present  dynasty  and  the  formal  partition  of  the 
empire — a process  involving  long  and  bitter  con- 


Reconstruction 


H7 


diets.  By  the  scheme  proposed,  foreign  Powers 
will  have  time  to  mature  their  policy,  and  to  in- 
troduce gradual  reforms,  gaining  vastly  more 
than  they  could  hope  to  secure  by  open  or  violent 
absorption.  It  is  easy  to  govern  China  through 
the  Chinese;  impossible  otherwise.' 

‘“Peking,  June  18,  1900.’ 

“ In  looking  over  these  paragraphs  the  only 
thing  I have  to  add  (and  that  only  by  way  of  ex- 
planation) is  a suggestion  that  the  joint  commis- 
sion of  foreign  Powers  should  have  an  absolute 
veto  on  all  measures  hostile  to  their  common  in- 
terests. Besides  this,  they  should  have  the  initia- 
tion, though  not  exclusive,  in  progressive  reforms. 

W.  A.  P.  M. 

“ Tien  Tsin,  September  13,  1900.” 

This  brief  outline  I may  amplify  and  explain, 
but  even  at  this  date  (November  6)  I would  not 
alter  it  in  any  essential  particular. 

It  requires,  however,  a little  explanation  to 
guard  against  misapprehension. 

As  to  the  first  point,  at  this  date,  all  parties 
appear  to  see  eye  to  eye ; and  the  restoration  of 
the  Emperor  will  be  a fait  accompli  if  not  op- 
posed by  the  Empress  Dowager.  As  to  the 
second,  it  is  not  intended  to  suggest  any  direct 
penalty.  Deprivation  of  power  is  in  itself  suffi- 
cient punishment  for  a woman  of  her  proud  and 


148  The  Siege  in  Peking 

haughty  disposition.  That  she  merits  to  be 
treated  with  greater  severity,  no  one  will  ques- 
tion; but  many  considerations  militate  against 
meting  out  to  her  an  extreme  measure  of  justice. 
The  Southern  Viceroys  have  been  fairly  faithful 
to  their  engagements  to  restrain  the  people  of 
their  Provinces  from  any  sort  of  outbreak,  either 
directed  against  foreigners  or  native  Christians. 
They  have  succeeded  in  fact  in  checking  the 
spread  of  the  Boxer  fanaticism  within  their  boun- 
daries. When,  therefore,  such  men  plead  for  in- 
dulgent treatment  toward  the  Empress  Dowager, 
they  have  a right  to  be  heard.  In  begging  for 
“ indulgent  treatment,”  they  by  no  means  de- 
mand the  restoration  of  her  power ; merely  the 
preservation  of  that  which  the  Chinese  consider 
as  above  power  and  above  life  itself,  that  myste- 
rious something  which  they  call  “ face.”  On  this 
point  they  would  no  doubt  be  fully  satisfied  to 
see  her  sent  into  retirement  at  some  point  within 
the  Empire,  say  Jehol  in  Mongolia,  or  Sianfu 
in  Shensi,  which  she  has  now  chosen  for  the  seat 
of  her  court. 

Should  the  Emperor  return  to  Peking,  the 
Dowager  ought  by  all  means  not  to  be  allowed 
to  accompany  him.  In  fact,  the  wider  distance 
by  which  they  are  separated,  the  better  ; and  as 


TIIK  EMPRESS  DOW  AG  E It  OF  CHINA. 


Reconstruction 


H9 


she  has  of  late  shown  herself  an  avowed  patroness 
of  the  enemies  of  railways  and  telegraphs,  there 
should  be  neither  one  nor  the  other  between  her 
and  her  Imperial  Nephew.  Should  she  merely  be 
sent  into  retirement  at  her  old  palace  on  the 
Kwen  Ming  Lake  (near  Peking),  she  would  in- 
evitably continue  to  be  as  she  was  in  her  previous 
retirement,  a power  behind  the  throne,  handling 
the  cards  with  a dexterity  acquired  from  forty 
years  of  manipulation.  Were  the  powers  to  insist 
on  banishing  her  to  some  Elba,  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  her  own  country,  the  loyal  Vice- 
roys, who  have  succeeded  so  admirably  in  steer- 
ing a middle  course  between  their  duty  to  her  and 
their  obligations  to  foreign  countries,  would  un- 
doubtedly regard  that  penalty  as  a national  in- 
dignity. 

The  fourth  raises  the  most  serious  question 
which  the  powers  have  to  deal  with.  It  is  one 
which  might  easily  set  them  at  loggerheads,  and 
plunge  China  into  the  vortex  of  a sanguinary 
conflict,  a war  of  giants  in  comparison  with  which 
the  struggles  of  native  princes  are  like  the  battles 
of  pigmies  and  cranes.  Nor  is  it  now  raised  for 
the  first  time.  It  originated  more  than  a score 
of  years  ago. — Each  of  China’s  neighbors,  espe- 
cially Great  Britain,  France,  and  Russia,  having 


150  The  Siege  in  Peking 

at  that  early  date  fixed  their  eyes,  and  also 
planted  their  feet  on  a portion  of  the  Empire 
which  they  intended  to  claim  as  their  special 
sphere,  or  in  the  event  of  a break-up,  as  their 
territorial  dependency.  Since  the  war  with 
Japan,  two  other  claimants  have  come  forward, 
the  Sunrise  Empire  and  Germany ; and  Chinese 
statesmen  were  three  years  ago  wrought  up  to 
a high  pitch  of  excitement  by  having  placed  be- 
fore their  eyes  a new  map  of  China  with  the  red 
lines  of  division,  marking  out  her  territory  as 
partitioned  amongst  the  great  powers  of  Europe 
and  the  East. 

Now,  after  this  tremendous  upheaval,  the  ques- 
tion of  partition  or  delimitation  of  spheres  of 
influence  looms  up  like  a spectre.  The  central 
regions  of  those  spheres  are  sufficiently  under- 
stood ; Russia  has  hers  in  the  North  and  North- 
east ; France,  her  ally,  having  hers  in  the  South 
and  Southwest ; Great  Britain  having  chosen 
hers  in  the  centre,  the  magnificent  and  well 
watered  valley  of  the  Yangtse,  which  rivals  in 
extent  and  wealth  of  productions  our  own  Mis- 
sissippi Valley.  For  Japan,  as  she  has  already 
got  Formosa,  it  is  natural  that  she  should  de- 
mand a foothold  on  the  opposite  coast.  Ger- 
many, having  planted  herself  already  on  the 


Reconstruction 


151 

coast,  is  reaching  westward  to  the  far  interior, 
and  it  remains  to  be  seen  how  much  of  the  hinter- 
land will  be  allowed  to  go  with  her  seaport  under 
the  name  of  “ sphere  of  influence.” 

Let  us  take  another  glance  at  these  indefinite 
claims  with  a view  to  ascertaining  somewhat 
more  exactly  their  probable  extent. 

With  regard  to  that  of  Russia.  Never  since 
Yermak,  with  his  Cossacks,  crossed  the  Ural 
Mountains,  and  annexed  Siberia,  three  hundred 
years  ago,  has  she  made  such  a sweeping  annexa- 
tion of  territory  as  she  now  proposes  to  effect 
under  the  veil  of  a sphere  of  influence.  Her 
sphere  will  unquestionably  comprehend  the  three 
great  Provinces  of  the  Northeast,  which  form 
Manchuria,  the  original  home  of  the  reigning 
dynasty.  To  this  she  will  add  the  whole  of  Mon- 
golia, Turkestan,  Ili,  and  the  Pamirs  to  the  North 
of  India. 

Already  has  she  cast  covetous  eyes  on  the  en- 
tire belt  of  Northern  Provinces,  which  border  on 
the  Great  Wall.  There  can,  however,  be  no 
doubt  that  the  other  powers  will  combine  to  op- 
pose the  acquisition  by  her  of  any  exclusive  pre- 
ponderance in  that  region.  This,  more  than  any- 
thing else,  I take  to  be  the  meaning  of  that 
remarkable  Fourth  Clause  in  the  recent  agree- 


\$2  The  Siege  in  Peking 

ment  between  England  and  Germany.  That  belt 
of  Provinces  if  withheld  from  the  predominant 
influence  of  any  one  power,  will  therefore  remain 
as  the  nucleus  of  an  Empire,  a common  ground 
for  the  combined  influence  of  all. 

The  basis  for  the  gradual  absorption  of  Chinese 
territory  was  laid  by  Russia  as  early  as  1858, 
when  the  four  powers,  England,  France,  Russia, 
and  the  United  States  were  negotiating  their 
treaties  at  Tien  Tsin.  Two  of  them  were  belliger- 
ents, each  with  the  right  to  carve  out  for  itself 
with  its  own  sword  as  much  territory  as  its  ally 
would  consent  to.  The  others  possessed  also 
some  advantage  in  being  neutrals,  and  skilfully 
did  Russia  play  her  cards,  for  she  obtained,  as 
the  price  of  neutrality  on  that  occasion,  the  ces- 
sion of  a strip  of  sea-coast  700  miles  in  length, 
extending  southward  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Amoor,  and  confronting  the  Empire  of  Japan. 
One  day,  during  the  negotiations,  Pien  Lao  Ye, 
one  of  the  Secretaries  of  Queileang,  came  to  me 
to  beg  me  (I  was  then  interpreter)  to  persuade 
Mr.  Reed,  the  American  Minister,  to  use  his  in- 
fluence with  the  Russian  Minister,  to  induce  him 
to  withdraw  his  demand  for  that  portion  of  Man- 
churia. Said  Pien, 

“ .With  us,  it  is  not  a question  of  territory,  but 


Reconstruction 


*53 


of  the  inhabitants.  The  Emperor  has  such  a vast 
domain  that  he  would  scarcely  miss  a small  strip 
like  that,  but  within  that  small  strip  are  7,000 
Manchu  families.  Them  he  regards  as  his  near 
kinsmen,  or  rather  as  his  own  children,  and  he 
cannot  bear  to  turn  them  over  to  the  sway  of  a 
foreign  power.” 

It  was  pathetic,  his  affection  (like  that  of 
Mrs.  Jellaby)  for  those  far-off  tribes ; but  need- 
less to  say,  the  American  Minister  saw  no  reason 
for  interposing  to  check  the  advance  of  Russia. 

In  addition  to  the  Valley  of  the  Yangtse, 
Great  Britain  will  either  stretch  her  shield  over 
the  whole  course  of  the  Pearl  River,  east  and 
west,  including  the  Great  mart  of  Canton ; or 
that  region,  the  original  seat  of  foreign  trade  in 
China,  might,  like  the  Northern  Provinces,  be 
reserved  as  common  ground. 

Germany  is  already  planning  a railway  to  the 
capital  of  Shan  Tung.  In  her  newspapers  she 
speaks  of  the  province  as  German  China,  nor 
is  it  improbable  that  her  claims  upon  the  hin- 
terland may  be  made  to  cover  the  South  of  Chili 
and  the  North  of  Honan,  both  bounded  by  the 
Yellow  River. 

The  Province  of  Fo  Kien  will  be  regarded  by 
Japan  as  her  appropriate  sphere,  especially  as  she 


1 54  The  Siege  in  Peking 

was  compelled  by  the  Powers  to  forego  the  occu- 
pation of  Liao  Tung,  or  Southern  Manchuria. 
It  was  a master  stroke  on  the  part  of  Russia,  thus 
to  oust  a victorious  nation  and  reserve  for  herself 
a rich  region  which  that  Power  already  held  by 
right  of  conquest. 

Two  years  ago  Germany  proposed  the  appoint- 
ment, at  the  provincial  capital,  of  a German  Gov- 
ernor to  sit  beside  the  representative  of  Chinese 
majesty.  The  scheme  was  not  carried  out,  nor 
do  I,  in  suggesting  the  appointment  within  each 
sphere  of  a high  functionary  to  “ control  ” the 
action  of  provincial  governors,  intend  that  they 
shall  themselves  be  Governors.  The  word  “ con- 
trol ” I employ  rather  in  the  French  sense  as  in- 
dicating their  office  to  take  note  of  and  restrain, 
if  necessary,  the  action  of  the  native  governors. 
Such  powers  would  not  be  difficult  to  define.  In- 
deed, had  there  been  present  in  Tsinanfu  a Ger- 
man official  ( comptroller  we  may  call  him)  along- 
side of  Yu  Hien  to  play  the  spy  on  his  move- 
ments, and  impose  a check  on  his  extravagance, 
we  never  should  have  heard  of  his  distributing 
arms  to  the  Boxers ; and  this  great  revolution 
would  have  been  nipped  in  the  bud. 

Austria  and  Italy  will  each  claim  something 
to  be  called  a sphere.  For  Austria,  perhaps,  it 


Reconstruction 


155 


may  be  the  Island  of  Chusan  ; for  Italy  some  part 
of  the  adjacent  mainland,  where  she  has  tried  in 
vain  to  set  her  foot. 

As  for  the  United  States:  We  carefully  ab- 
stained from  demanding  territory  as  the  price  of 
our  neutrality,  forty  years  ago.  In  the  recent 
conflict,  I am  proud  to  say,  wc  have  not  been 
neutral;  yet  are  we  less  disposed  than  any  other 
nation  to  indulge  in  territorial  aggrandizement? 
Perhaps  because  we  have  enough  on  our  hands 
at  home  and  abroad.  If  I were  to  point  out  any 
place  within  the  bounds  of  China  where,  in  lieu 
of  the  payment  of  war  expenses,  China  might 
concede  us  a pied  a terre,  it  would  be  the  island  of 
Hainan,  a stepping-stone  between  Hong-Kong 
and  the  Philippines.  It  is  half  as  large  as  Sicily, 
and  capable  of  being  made  equally  rich  in  its 
productions. 

We  should  then  have  a tangible  ground  for 
demanding  to  be  heard  on  all  great  questions 
relating  to  the  future  of  China. 

It  was  not  land-grabbing  which  impelled  Great 
Britain  sixty  years  ago  to  demand  the  island  of 
Hong-Kong.  What  she  wanted  was  a Pousto,  a 
fulcrum  from  which  to  move  the  world ; nor  for 
us  will  it  be  unduly  aggressive  to  negotiate  for 
the  island  of  Hainan. 


156  The  Siege  in  Peking 

With  what  is  called  by  the  opprobrious  name 
of  Imperialism,  I have  little  sympathy,  but  nat- 
ural expansion  or  growth  is  quite  a different 
thing.  For  America,  no  more  than  for  Great 
Britain,  will  it  do 

“ Her  proud  pre-eminence  to  abdicate, 

Through  craven  fear  of  growing  great.” 

It  was  not  Imperialism  that  led  the  Russian 
Empire  to  overstep  the  Urals,  and  make  her  way 
to  the  Pacific.  What  lover  of  his  race  would 
wish  the  centuries  rolled  back  because  she  en- 
countered a few  Turgouths,  Buriats,  and  Samo- 
yedes  in  her  pathway?  Had  she  from  want  of 
energy  neglected  her  opportunity,  instead  of  that 
vast  domain  containing  the  longest  railway  in 
the  world,  the  North  of  Asia  would  have  pre- 
sented only  a battle-ground  for  savage  tribes. 
Had  our  forefathers  neglected  their  opportuni- 
ties, we  should  not  to-day  have  possessed  a foot 
of  land  to  the  west  of  the  Mississippi ; nor  would 
Florida  have  been  one  among  the  Stars  upon  our 
flag. 

It  is  by  natural  growth  that  we  have  ex- 
panded our  territory  to  the  Pacific,  and  extended 
our  influence  to  Japan  and  China.  It  was  by 
the  embracing  of  an  offered  opportunity  by  our 


Reconstruction 


l57 


statesmen  that  Japan  was  lifted  out  of  her  old 
groove,  and  set  going  on  her  new  career.  In 
that  empire,  so  conspicuous  has  our  influence 
been,  that  the  language  we  speak  is  described  as 
Americano  (not  English).  In  China,  up  to  the 
present  time,  our  political  influence  has  been  in- 
conspicuous ; but  now  a great  opportunity  pre- 
sents itself,  and  God  forbid  that  it  should  pass 
unimproved.  In  my  view,  no  great  extent  of 
territory  is  required  to  give  us  the  needed  foot- 
hold. If  an  island  be  not  desirable,  a sea-port  on 
the  mainland  will  give  us  all  that  is  needed, 
namely : a shelter  for  our  naval  squadrons  ; a post 
where  our  armies  may  rendezvous  in  case  they 
are  required  either  to  oppose  the  absorption  of 
China  by  some  grasping  nationality,  or  to  quell 
another  uprising  against  the  civilized  world  such 
as  we  are  now  witnessing. 

This  is  demanded  by  our  natural  growth. 
Without  it  our  growing  commerce  and  our  mag- 
nificent railway  and  mining  enterprises  in  the  in- 
terior would  be  insecure. 

With  regard  to  the  final  settlement,  English 
organs  in  China  hold  substantially  the  foregoing 
views.  As  to  what  the  Germans  think  on  the 
subject,  we  may  gather  from  the  Ostasiatische 
Lloyd,  the  German  organ  in  the  Far  East.  An 


1 58  The  Siege  in  Peking 

extract,  under  twelve  heads,  in  the  North  China 
Herald  of  October  3,  1900,  reads  as  follows: 

“ 1.  No  withdrawal  from  Peking  until  the 
whole  matter  is  settled. 

“ 2.  No  Chinese  connected  with  the  recent 
outrages  to  be  accepted  as  negotiators,  and  the 
negotiations  on  the  side  of  the  allies  to  be  con- 
ducted by  one  representative,  say  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief. 

“ 3.  The  instigators  of  outrages  and  others  to 
be  punished  in  their  purse,  their  most  sensitive 
part. 

“ 4.  H.  M.  Kuang  Hsu  to  be  restored,  if  pos- 
sible ; if  not,  a new  Emperor  not  connected  with 
the  Empress  Dowager’s  clique.  Prince  Tuan’s 
son  to  be  deposed  from  the  position  of  Heir  Ap- 
parent. The  Empress  Dowager  to  be  allowed 
to  retire  into  private  life  without  further  penal- 
ties. 

“ 5.  Peking  to  remain  the  capital,  Nanking  be- 
ing too  much  exposed  to  the  preponderating 
influence  of  a foreign  naval  power,  and  other 
proposed  capitals  too  inaccessible. 

“ 6.  No  territorial  compensation  to  any  for- 
eign Power.  Stricter  observance  of  treaties.  A 
money  indemnity  to  be  paid,  guaranteed  on  all 
the  revenues  of  the  empire,  with  the  exception 
of: 

“ (a)  Those  already  hypothecated. 

“ (b)  Those  necessary  to  the  officials  for  work- 
ing expenses. 


Feconstruction 


159 


“ 7.  Reorganization  of  the  finances  with  aboli- 
tion of  all  squeezes  and  sinecures,  under  Euro- 
pean army  of  occupation,  to  maintain  peace  and 
order  until  all  reforms  work  smoothly. 

“ 8.  Limitation  of  the  military  and  naval  forces 
to  be  maintained  by  China,  and  of  the  arms  and 
munitions  to  be  imported  or  manufactured. 

“ 9.  No  forts  or  camps  to  be  maintained  with- 
in a radius  of  thirty  miles  of  the  four  principal 
treaty  ports,  and  no  forts  on  waterways  navigable 
by  men-of-war.  An  accurate  account  shall  be 
kept  of  all  Chinese  troops  within  a radius  of  thirty 
miles  from  any  treaty  port. 

“ 10.  Full  liberty  to  Chinese  and  foreigners  to 
work  mines,  railways,  etc.,  and  navigate  inland 
waters. 

“ 11.  Missionaries  to  be  restricted  to  spheres 
within  a radius  of  thirty  miles  from  a treaty  port, 
female  missionaries  to  be  restricted  to  the  treaty 
ports.  No  missionary,  under  pain  of  punish- 
ment or  deportation,  to  engage  in  anything  but 
the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  and  the  spread  of 
knowledge. 

“ \2.  Proclamations  stating  the  terms  of  peace 
to  be  posted  in  every  town  in  China  for  at  least 
one  year,  and  immediately  replaced  when  de- 
stroyed.” 

It  is  satisfactory  to  find  that  the  editor  of  the 
English  journal  takes  strong  exception  to  the 
clause  which  provides  for  placing  restrictions  on 


160  The  Siege  in  Peking 

missionary  enterprise.  No  man  knows  better 
than  he  that  the  killing  of  missionaries  was  not 
the  cause,  but  the  occasion  of  the  Boxer  out- 
break— the  political  jealousy  of  a foreign  dynasty, 
as  well  as  the  objection  of  a conservative  people 
to  every  enterprise  which  appears  to  take  the 
bread  out  of  their  mouths,  being  really  at  the 
bottom  of  it.* 

Scarcely  would  it  have  been  more  unfair  to 
accuse  missionaries  of  having  caused  the  Sepoy 
Rebellion  than  to  charge  them  with  provoking 
the  Boxer  outrages.  In  both  cases  they  have 
been  pre-eminently  victims  rather  than  parties  in 
the  conflict.  With  the  Sepoy  a greased  cartridge 
was  the  spark  which  lighted  the  explosion ; in 
the  case  of  the  Boxers,  it  was  not  the  blood  of 
the  missionary  so  much  as  the  subsequent  mani- 
festation of  German  aggression  and  German 
enterprise,  which,  as  we  have  said,  resulted  in 
their  transformation  into  a great  political  party. 

Missionary  societies  did  not  withdraw  their 
agents  from  India,  but  felt  encouraged  to  re- 
doubled effort  by  such  statesmen  as  Lord  Law- 
rence, who  declared  that  missionaries  had  done 
more  for  India  than  either  civilians  or  military. 

* His  comments,  which  are  worth  preserving,  may  be  seen 
in  the  Appendix. 


Reconstruction 


161 


In  regard  to  China,  not  merely  has  it  been 
occasionally  proposed  to  withdraw  missionaries 
from  the  interior,  but  some  have  even  suggested 
the  abandonment  of  China  as  a mission  field. 
Such  persons  are  far  from  understanding  the 
character  of  the  Chinese  people.  Under  a liberal 
ruler  like  the  young  Emperor,  they  woke  up 
with  marvellous  suddenness  to  the  wants  of  their 
own  country,  and  the  superior  excellence  of  our 
Christian  civilization ; but  under  the  Empress 
Dowager,  deceived  and  misguided,  they  fell  in 
with  her  reactionary  policy.  With  them  it  is 
a fixed  principle  to  follow  the  guidance  of  the 
throne.  Often  is  it  asserted  in  their  sacred  books 
that  the  “ One  Man,”  by  his  teaching  and  exam- 
ple, is  able  to  lead  the  nation  in  the  right  or  the 
wrong  way. 

In  my  mind  there  remains  no  doubt  that  the 
effects  of  the  recent  victory  will  gradually  (for 
nothing  goes  fast  in  China)  make  a deep  impres- 
sion on  the  Chinese  mind.  The  effect  will  be 
not  only  a resuscitation  of  the  reform  movement, 
but  an  adoption  of  the  essential  elements  of  our 
civilization  to  an  extent  never  before  imagined. 
The  way  has  been  cleared  for  the  introduction  of 
a new  epoch,  which  may  be  expected  to  com- 
mence with  the  twentieth  century. 


162 


The  Siege  in  Peking 

Glad  I am  to  learn  that  seventeen  missionary 
societies  in  America — -Baptist,  Congregationalist, 
Episcopal,  Methodist,  Presbyterian,  and  some 
twelve  or  thirteen  others — meeting  in  convoca- 
tion recently  resolved  not  to  withdraw  their  mis- 
sionaries from  China,  but  to  make  redoubled 
efforts  for  the  conversion  of  that  populous  em- 
pire. 

They  adopted  a series  of  resolutions,  of  which 
the  following  is  the  substance : 

“ While  the  uprising  in  China  has,  of  course, 
had  a restrictive,  and,  in  some  places,  a deeply 
injurious  present  effect  on  missionary  opera- 
tions, there  is  no  adequate  ground  for  discour- 
agement, and  the  work  ought  to  be,  and  must  be, 
resumed  at  as  early  a date  as  may  be  practicable 
and  wise.  There  is  no  disposition  to  be  reckless 
in  reopening  stations.  We  do  not  underestimate 
the  possible  consequences  of  premature  resump- 
tion of  work.  The  servants  of  the  Lord  must  be 
sensible,  but  not  for  a moment  are  we  discour- 
aged. Clear,  strong,  and  unanimous  was  the 
note  of  both  conferences  that  God  will  overrule 
this  disturbance  for  the  furtherance  of  the  Gos- 
pel : that,  just  as  the  most  successful  era  of  mis- 
sionary work  in  India  followed  the  mutiny  of 
1857,  so  will  a new  day  for  China  date  from  the 
Boxer  riots  of  1900;  that  not  only  should  every 
destroyed  station  be  rebuilt,  but  that  plans  should 


Reconstruction 


163 

be  made  for  reinforcements  and  increased  ex- 
penditures, in  order  that  the  Church  of  God  may 
seize  the  coming  strategic  opportunity  to  win 
China  for  Christ.  The  missionaries  in  particu- 
lar were  united  and  enthusiastic  in  the  conviction 
that  a large  number  of  new  missionaries  will  be 
needed  next  year,  and  that  the  young  men  in  the 
theological  seminaries  should  be  encouraged  to 
apply  for  appointment.” 

For  the  whole  paper,  which  acquires  immense 
weight  from  the  fact  that  it  expresses  the  views 
of  seventeen  societies,  see  Appendix. 

The  Powers  have  agreed  on  the  basis  of  a final 
settlement.  Dr.  Morrison,  in  a cable  to  the  Lon- 
don Times,  gives  the  following  lucid  summary, 
under  date  of  Peking,  Sunday,  November  nth. 
He  says : 

“ Pressed  by  the  common  desire  for  a speedy 
termination  of  present  conditions,  the  foreign 
envoys  have  finally  agreed  to  the  following 
terms,  to  be  presented  in  a conjoint  note  which, 
subject  to  the  approval  of  the  governments,  will 
be  pressed  upon  China  as  the  basis  of  a pre- 
liminary treaty : 

“ China  shall  erect  a monument  to  Baron  von 
Ketteler  on  the  site  where  he  was  murdered  and 
send  an  imperial  prince  to  Germany  to  convey 
an  apology.  She  shall  inflict  the  death-penalty 


164 


The  Siege  in  Peking 


upon  eleven  princes  and  officials  already  named, 
and  suspend  provincial  examinations  for  five 
years  where  the  outrages  occurred.  In  future  all 
officials  failing  to  prevent  anti-foreign  outrages 
within  their  jurisdiction  shall  be  dismissed  and 
punished.  [This  is  a modification  of  Mr.  Con- 
ger’s proposal.] 

“ Indemnity  shall  be  paid  to  the  states,  corpora- 
tions, and  individuals.  The  Tsung  Li  Yamen 
shall  be  abolished,  and  its  functions  vested  in  a 
foreign  minister.  Rational  intercourse  shall  be 
permitted  with  the  Emperor  as  in  civilized  coun- 
tries. 

“ The  forts  at  Taku  and  the  other  forts  on  the 
coast  of  Chi-li  shall  be  razed  and  the  importation 
of  arms  and  war  material  prohibited.  Permanent 
legation  guards  shall  be  maintained,  and  also 
guards  of  communication  between  Peking  and 
the  sea. 

“ Imperial  proclamations  shall  be  posted  for 
two  years  throughout  the  empire  suppressing 
Boxers. 

“ The  indemnity  is  to  include  compensation 
for  Chinese  who  suffered  through  being  em- 
ployed by  foreigners,  but  not  compensation  for 
native  Chinese  Christians.  The  words  ‘ mission- 
ary ’ and  ‘ Christian  ’ do  not  occur  in  the  note.” 

It  is  gratifying  to  know  of  a certainty  that  the 
integrity  of  China,  under  her  own  rulers,  is  thus 
provided  for.  Though  nothing  is  said  of  the 


HINA.  MONSIGNOR  FAYIER,  CATHOLIC  BISHOP  OF 


Reconstruction 


165 

young  Emperor,  it  is  understood  that  if  his  ty- 
rannical Aunt  allows  him  to  return,  he  will  be  the 
figure-head  (if  nothing  more)  in  the  new  govern- 
ment, as  he  has  been  in  the  old.  Under  the  new 
regime,  however,  the  surveillance  of  the  Dowager 
will  be  replaced  by  that  of  Dame  Europa — or 
better  still,  that  of  the  two  dames,  mother  and 
daughter,  Europe  and  America. 

That  will  be  sufficient  guarantee  for  a liberal 
policy  which  shall  make  provision  for  all  legiti- 
mate interests  and  enterprises.  The  open  door 
will  be  maintained,  and,  though  in  this  protocol 
the  word  missionary  does  not  occur,  we  refuse  to 
believe  that  any  set  of  negotiators  could  be  stolid 
enough  to  exclude  from  China  the  dispensers  of 
knowledge,  human  and  divine;  as  if  light  were 
the  one  commodity  she  could  afford  to  dispense 
with ! No  such  arrangement  would  be  ratified 
by  the  Christian  World,  and  if  it  were,  it  would 
not  be  of  long  duration ; for  in  a few  lustrums  a 
fresh  outbreak  might  be  expected  which  would 
call  for  a readjustment  of  relations  on  a more 
liberal  basis. 

The  punishment  of  the  guilty  princes  com- 
mends itself  to  our  sense  of  justice.  The  Chinese 
negotiators  pled  for  their  lives,  and  there  was  rea- 
son to  fear  they  would  escape  the  death-penalty. 


1 66  The  Siege  in  Peking 

It  would  have  been  an  outrage  on  the  moral 
sense  of  Christendom  to  allow  Prince  Tuan,  the 
great  patron  of  the  Boxers,  to  go  with  hoary  hair 
down  to  the  grave  in  peace.  Equally  abhorrent 
would  it  be  to  permit  Prince  Chuang,  military 
governor  of  the  city,  to  come  to  what  the  Chinese 
call  Shan  Chang,  “ a happy  end,”  after  having 
issued  proclamations  setting  a price  on  foreign 
heads:  “ Sixty  taels  'for  the  head  of  a man,  fifty 
for  the  head  of  a woman,  and  thirty  for  the  head 
of  a child.” 

As  for  the  Heir  Apparent,  it  would  be  mad- 
ness to  permit  him  to  ascend  the  Throne  at  any 
future  day — especially  if  his  father  be  condemned 
to  death.  For  in  that  case,  the  first  duty  incum- 
bent on  him  would  be  to  avenge  his  parent.  Says 
the  Book  of  Rites : “ When  your  father  has  been 
slain,  wear  your  sword  night  and  day ; and  when- 
ever you  meet  the  slayer  in  palace  or  in  market- 
place, be  ready  to  plunge  it  into  his  bosom.” 
This  passage  the  Ta  Aga  will  bring  to  the  mem- 
ory of  Christendom,  if  he  be  allowed  in  any  way 
to  direct  the  destinies  of  the  Chinese  empire. 

A document  of  scarcely  inferior  interest  to  this 
telegraphic  intelligence  has  just  fallen  into  my 
hands,  viz. : the  Parliamentary  Blue  Book,  China, 
No.  3,  1900. 


Reconstruction 


167 

The  reports,  Consular  and  Ministerial,  which 
it  contains  bring  us  down  to  the  eve  of  the  rupt- 
ure. Instructive  and  exciting  is  the  reading  which 
they  supply,  but  on  one  point  only  can  I allow 
space  for  a few  extracts,  viz. : the  different  aspect 
which  the  Boxer  movement  presented  to  the  eyes 
of  Missionaries  and  Ministers. 

As  early  as  January  17th,  Sir  Claude  MacDon- 
ald reports  to  Lord  Salisbury  that  Bishop  Scott 
(after  the  murder  of  Mr.  Brooks)  telegraphed  to 
Mr.  Brown  to  inquire  as  to  the  state  of  affairs, 
and  received  on  the  9th  inst.  a reply  as  fol- 
lows : 

“ Outlook  very  black  ; daily  marauding ; con- 
stant danger.  Edict  suppressing  (Boxers)  pub- 
lished. Troops  present,  but  useless;  officials 
complete  inaction.  Prefect  blocks ; secret  orders 
from  Throne  to  encourage  (Boxers).”  On  this 
Sir  Claude  remarks:  “On  the  nth  inst.  I saw 
the  Ministers  of  the  Tsung  Li  Yamen  and  spoke 
to  them  in  terms  of  the  gravest  warning.  While 
1 could  not  believe  it  possible,  I said,  that  the  rumors 
of  secret  orders  from  the  Throne  were  true.  The 
mere  fact  of  the  currency  of  such  rumors  showed 
the  impression  which  the  conduct  of  the  prefect 
conveyed  to  the  public.” 

Under  date  of  May  21st  H.  B.  M.’s  Minister 


1 68  The  Siege  in  Peking 

encloses  a letter  of  Bishop  Favier,  addressing  M. 
Pichon,  as  follows : 

“ I beg  you  will  be  assured,  Monsieur  le  Minis- 
tre,  that  I am  well  informed,  and  am  making  no 
statements  at  random.  The  religious  persecu- 
tion is  only  a blind.  The  main  object  is  to  exter- 
minate the  Europeans,  and  this  object  is  clearly  in- 
dicated and  written  on  the  Boxers’  standards.” 

Commenting  on  this,  Sir  Claude  says,  “ it  was 
generally  felt  (in  the  diplomatic  body)  that  after 
making  all  due  allowances  for  the  color  which 
might  have  been  lent  to  his  words  by  the  fears 
of  his  converts,  his  deliberately  expressed  opinion 
on  the  situation  could  not  be  treated  with  indif- 
ference. At  the  same  time  we  did  not  consider 
that  the  circumstances,  so  far  as  we  were  in  a 
position  to  judge,  were  such  as  to  justify  the  bring- 
ing up  of  Legation  Guards .” 

Just  a week  later  Sir  Claude  sends  another 
despatch  which  is  notable  as  containing  the  last 
public  utterance  of  Baron  Ketteler.  By  this 
time  all  the  Ministers  had  been  waked  out  of 
their  diplomatic  dream  by  the  outrages  on  the 
Paoting-fu  railway. 

“ During  the  discussion  (in  conference)  the 
German  Minister  declared  that  it  was  utterly  use- 
less either  to  expect  the  Chinese  Government  to 


Reconstruction 


169 


do  anything  effective,  or  to  take  any  action  our- 
selves, such  as  bringing  up  guards,  based  on  the 
belief  that  that  Government  could  remain  stable 
or  on  the  desire  to  assist  in  propping  up  its  crum- 
bling structure.'” 

That  “ crumbling  structure  ” has  now  come  to 
the  ground,  burying  in  its  ruins  the  fairest  prod- 
ucts of  foreign  enterprise.  The  Powers  have  un- 
dertaken to  set  it  up  again — an  undertaking  not 
unlike  that  of  Rome  had  she  resolved  to  rebuild 
the  city  of  Pompeii.  They  may  clear  away  some 
of  the  debris,  but  they  can  hardly  hope  for  per- 
manence. Nor  is  the  permanence  of  the  structure 
to  be  desired  unless  it  give  impartial  shelter  to 
Christian  and  to  pagan. 

The  outlook  for  China  is  not  cheering — even 
if  the  Powers  join  in  the  maintenance  of  her  ter- 
ritorial integrity — yet  is  it  far  from  hopeless. 

The  views  of  Sir  Robert  Hart,  as  given  in  the 
Fortnightly,  are  a little  too  pessimistic.  He 
thinks  (and  his  opinions  are  not  to  be  lightly  dis- 
regarded) that  the  Boxer  craze  will  continue  to 
spread ; that  within  two  or  three  years  there  will 
be  in  China  twenty  million  Boxers ; and  that 
there  is  but  one  cure  for  it,  viz. : the  rapid  spread 
of  Christianity — but  of  that  he  sees  no  hope. 

In  two  points  out  of  three  my  views  are  in  ac- 


170  The  Siege  in  Peking 

cord  with  his,  but  I do  not  share  his  gloomy  an- 
ticipations. 

The  defeat  of  the  power  that  called  the  Boxers 
out  of  their  obscure  retreat  is  almost  certain  to 
be  followed  by  a collapse  of  the  Boxers — es- 
pecially as  the  Chinese  public  holds  them  respon- 
sible for  the  calamities  the  Empress  Dowager  has 
brought  on  the  empire.  She  herself  makes  them 
her  scapegoat ; nor  does  she  appear  inclined  to 
let  them  go  unscathed,  as  the  Hebrews  did  with 
their  vicarious  victim.  Even  now  their  tide  is 
on  the  ebb,  and  in  a few  months  it  may  be  that 
nothing  will  remain  of  the  disastrous  flood  but 
here  and  there  a brackish  pool.  That  Christian- 
ity is  the  most  radical,  if  not  the  sole,  remedy  for 
this  curse  of  pagan  fanaticism,  I firmly  believe. 
That  its  spread  cannot,  in  the  nature  of  the  case, 
be  as  rapid  as  that  of  the  Boxers,  I also  admit. 
Yet  do  the  fires  kindled  by  the  Boxers  throw 
light  on  the  success  of  missions,  and  prove  that 
Christianity  was  making  no  little  headway. 


OCCUPIES  AS  A CAMP  BY  TIIH  BRITISH  SOLDIEKS. 


APPENDIX 


Note. — The  three  poems  which  follow  are  in  them- 
selves full  of  interest.  Translated  by  the  author,  and 
now  published  for  the  first  time  in  this  country,  they 
throw  much  light  on  Chinese  life.  One  expressing  con- 
jugal tenderness,  another  showing  that  China  has  her 
heroines,  and  a third  proving  that  the  Chinese  are  not 
devoid  of  chivalrous  sentiment.  People  capable  of  this 
strain  of  feeling  are  not  beyond  the  pale  of  our  sym- 
pathy. 

Of  the  three  prose  documents  it  is  enough  to  say  that 
they  are  cited  in  the  text  as  of  great  value. 

SU  WU  TO  HIS  WIFE. 

On  Setting  Out  on  His  Embassy  to  the  Court  of  the 
Grand  Khan  of  Tartary,  ioo  u.c.* 

Twin  trees  whose  boughs  together  twine, 

Two  birds  that  guard  one  nest, 

We’ll  soon  be  far  asunder  torn, 

As  sunrise  from  the  west. 

Hearts  knit  in  childhood’s  innocence, 

Long  bound  in  Hymen’s  ties; 

One  goes  to  distant  battle-fields, 

One  sits  at  home  and  sighs. 

* On  arriving  he  was  thrown  into  prison,  lowered  into  a well,  and  treated 
with  great  indignity.  We  are  not  told  that  his  life  was  threatened,  yet  his 
master  made  war  on  the  Khan  to  rescue  or  avenge  him.  The  Khan  in 
great  alarm  released  him  and  came  to  terms.  With  such  precedents  in 
their  history  how  could  the  Dowager  and  her  clique  be  so  blind  as  to  follow 
the  example  of  the  Grand  Khan  ? 

171 


i~2  The  Siege  in  Peking 

Like  carrier  bird,  though  seas  divide, 

I’ll  seek  my  lonely  mate ; 

But  if  afar  I find  a grave, 

You’ll  mourn  my  hapless  fate. 

To  us  the  future’s  all  unknown. 

In  memory  seek  relief ; 

Come,  touch  the  chords  you  know  so  well, 
And  let  them  soothe  our  grief. 


MULAN,  A CHINESE  JOAN  OF  ARC. 

A Chinese  Ballad  of  the  Liang  Dynasty,  502-556  a.d. 

An  officer  being  disabled,  his  daughter  puts  on  his 
armor,  and,  so  disguised,  leads  his  troops  to  the  conflict. 
The  original  is  anonymous  and  of  uncertain  date. 

Say,  maiden,  at  your  spinning-wheel, 

Why  heave  that  deep-drawn  sigh? 

Is ’t  fear  perchance  or  love  you  feel, 

Pray  tell — oh,  tell  me  why? 

Nor  fear  nor  love  has  moved  my  soul — 

Away  such  idle  thought ! 

A warrior’s  glory  is  the  goal 
By  my  ambition  sought. 

My  father’s  cherished  life  to  save, 

My  country  to  redeem, 

The  dangers  of  the  field  I’ll  brave — 

I am  not  what  I seem. 

No  son  has  he  his  troop  to  lead, 

No  brother  dear  have  I; 

So  I must  mount  my  father’s  steed, 

And  to  the  battle  hie. 


Appendix  1 73 

At  dawn  of  day  she  quits  her  door, 

At  evening  rests  her  head 

Where  loud  the  mountain  torrents  roar 
And  mail-clad  soldiers  tread. 

The  northern  plains  are  gained  at  last, 

The  mountains  sink  from  view, 

The  sun  shines  cold,  and  the  wintry  blast 
It  pierces  through  and  through. 

A thousand  foes  around  her  fall. 

And  red  blood  stains  the  ground; 

But  Mulan,  who  survives  it  all, 

Returns  with  glory  crowned. 

Before  the  throne  they  bend  the  knee, 

In  the  palace  of  Chang-an, 

Full  many  a knight  of  high  degree, 

But  the  bravest  is  Mulan. 

Nay,  Prince,  she  cries,  my  duty’s  done, 

No  guerdon  I desire, 

But  let  me  to  my  home  begone, 

To  cheer  my  aged  sire. 

She  nears  the  door  of  her  father’s  home, 

A chief  with  trumpet’s  blare, 

But  when  she  doffs  her  waving  plume, 

She  stands  a maiden  fair. 


THE  MIDNIGHT  OFFERING. 

rA  Tale  of  the  Tartar  Wars,  Related  by  a Manchu  of1 
the  Imperial  Clan. 

On  the  last  night  of  the  year  the  Emperor  offers  a 
sacrifice  in  one  of  his  family  temples  on  the  east  of  the 
canal,  not  far  from  the  British  Legation,  and  it  is  gen- 
erally believed  that  this  sacrifice  is  offered,  in  whole  or 


:74 


The  Siege  in  Peking 

in  part,  to  the  manes  of  a Chinese  general,  who,  nearly 
three  centuries  ago,  opposed  the  advance  of  the  Tartars. 

You  ask  me  to  tell  why,  in  yonder  halls, 

The  Lord  of  the  Rivers  and  Hills 

There  at  midnight  low  on  the  pavement  falls, 

And  an  annual  rite  fulfils. 

’Twas  after  the  rise  of  our  Manchu  clan, 

When  our  sires  were  roaming  the  plains, 

This  rite  was  ordained  for  a worthy  man, 

Whose  honor  unfading  remains. 

One  morning  our  Founder,  the  brave  Tai-tsu, 

Was  beat  in  a terrible  fight; 

His  arrows  were  spent,  his  spear  broke  in  two, 

And  safety  lay  only  in  flight. 

The  cloud  of  pursuers  waxed  thin  and  few, 

As  through  the  thick  jungle  he  sped; 

One  warrior  at  last  left  alone  to  pursue. 

And  fleeter  the  fugitive  fled. 

All  way-worn  and  weary,  but  not  in  despair, 

He  sought  in  the  jungle  to  hide; 

Only  hoping  at  best  for  a wild  beast’s  lair. 

When  a vine-covered  cavern  he  spied. 

My  lady ! he  cried  to  an  aged  crone, 

Whom  at  the  cave’s  entrance  he  found, 

Pray  let  me  repose  in  your  fortress  of  stone, 

And  spread  me  a mat  on  the  ground. 

Refreshment  and  shelter  I will  not  withhold; 

You’ve  nothing  to  fear,  said  the  dame, 

For  I have  a son,  who’s  a soldier  bold; 

In  his  need  I should  wish  him  the  same. 


Appendix 


*75 


Just  then  ihe  pursuer  burst  into  the  cave, 

The  flash  of  his  falchion  was  seen ; 

But,  thoughtful  the  life  of  her  stranger  to  save, 
The  matron  quick  rushed  in  between. 

Spare  the  life  of  my  guest,  and  touch  not  a hair; 

I received  him  for  your  sake  alone! — 

For  your  sake,  my  mother,  the  stranger  I spare, 
But  you’ve  bartered  the  life  of  your  son. 

For  you  have  I broken  my  chieftain’s  command, 
My  blood  must  atone  for  my  guilt ; 

So  saying,  the  blade  that  he  held  in  his  hand 
He  plunged  in  his  heart  to  the  hilt. 

Farewell,  Noble  Soul ! the  brave  Tai-tsu  exclaimed. 

My  brother ! your  mother  is  mine. 

In  ages  to  come,  you’ll  with  honor  be  named 
And  adored  in  our  family  shrine. 


FUTURE  MISSIONARY  POLICY  IN  CHINA. 
A Notable  Conference  of  Missionary  Secretaries. 

BY  REV.  ARTHUR  J.  BROWN,  D.D.,  NEW  YORK  CITY. 
Secretary  or  the  Presbyterian  Board  for  Foreign  Missions. 


Now  that  immediate  danger  of  the  further  destruction 
of  missionary  life  in  China  has  probably  passed,  stu- 
pendous problems  of  reconstruction  confront  us.  Never 
before  in  all  the  history  of  missions  have  such  difficult 
and  delicate  questions  called  for  an  answer.  The  work 
of  the  largest  mission  field  in  the  world  is  paralyzed, 
many  stations  have  been  abandoned,  and  the  missionaries 
are  fugitives  in  the  port  cities,  and  in  Korea  and  Japan, 
while  at  home  the  expediency  of  the  whole  missionary 
enterprise  is  being  challenged,  the  boards  are  urged  to 


176  The  Siege  in  Peking 

send  no  more  missionaries  to  China,  and  some  people 
frankly  say  that  in  any  event  they  will  give  no  more 
money  for  missionary  work  in  China. 

In  these  circumstances  every  board  has  a heavy  re- 
sponsibility. In  order  that  we  in  the  Presbyterian 
Board  might  have  sound  counsel,  we  first  sought  the 
opinions  of  the  missionaries  themselves.  So  we  cabled 
to  those  assembled  in  Chefoo,  asking  them  to  hold  a 
meeting,  consider  the  policy  that  ought  to  be  adopted, 
and  wire  us  their  judgment.  Providentially,  there  were 
about  forty  Presbyterian  missionaries  from  China  in 
this  country  on  furlough.  We  selected  eight  wise,  de- 
voted men,  representing  all  our  missions  in  China, 
brought  them  to  New  York  at  the  expense  of  the  board, 
and  spent  many  profitable  hours  with  them,  listening  to 
all  that  was  in  their  hearts,  after  the  months  of  thought 
and  prayer  which  they  had  naturally  given  to  the  sub- 
ject. Nor  was  this  all,  for  we  wrote  to  all  the  other 
missionaries  from  China  now  in  the  United  States,  ex- 
plaining that  while  it  was  impracticable  for  financial 
reasons  to  bring  so  many  to  New  York,  yet  we  desired 
their  opinions  too,  and  requesting  each  one  to  freely 
write  any  suggestions.  Thus  we  did  everything  in  our 
power  to  ascertain  the  views  of  the  devoted  missionaries 
themselves. 

Realizing,  however,  that  the  questions  before  us  were 
common  to  other  boards  similarly  situated,  all  the  boards 
of  foreign  missions  in  the  United  States  and  Canada, 
having  work  in  China,  were  invited  to  send  delegates  to 
an  interdenominational  conference  in  New  York.  The 
invitation  was  cordially  accepted,  and  September  21 
thirty-two  delegates  assembled  in  our  board  rooms,  rep- 
resenting nearly  all  the  leading  Protestant  bodies  of 
America.  In  this  conference  also  the  entire  ground  was 
traversed,  step  by  step,  including  a docket  embracing 
thirty  topics  and  sub-topics.  The  conference  was  of 
extraordinary  interest  and  value.  While  the  discussions 


Appendix 


177 


were  free  and  the  opinions  not  always  unanimous,  yet 
harmony  prevailed  to  a remarkable  degree.  The  session 
began  with  a season  of  special  prayer  for  Divine  guid- 
ance, and  never  was  prayer  more  plainly  answered.  We 
separated,  feeling  that  we  had  been  greatly  helped,  that 
our  vision  had  been  clarified,  and  that  we  were  prepared 
to  submit  clearer  judgment  to  our  respective  boards. 

The  main  lines  of  policy  agreed  upon  by  both  mis- 
sionaries and  board  representatives  (for  with  one  minor 
exception  practically  identical  views  were  expressed  in 
the  two  conferences),  and  which  will  now  be  voted  upon 
by  the  boards  concerned  were  as  follows : 


RESUMPTION  OF  THE  WORK. 

i.  While  the  uprising  in  China  has,  of  course,  had  a 
restrictive,  and  in  some  places  a deeply  injurious  present 
effect  on  missionary  operations,  there  is  no  adequate 
ground  for  discouragement,  and  the  work  ought  to  be, 
and  must  be  resumed  at  as  early  a date  as  may  be  prac- 
ticable and  wise.  There  is  no  disposition  to  be  reckless 
in  reopening  stations.  We  do  not  underestimate  the 
possible  consequences  of  premature  resumption  of  work. 
The  servants  of  the  Lord  must  be  sensible.  But  not  for 
a moment  are  we  discouraged.  Clear,  strong,  and  unan- 
imous was  the  note  of  both  conferences  that  God  will 
overrule  this  disturbance  for  the  furtherance  of  the  Gos- 
pel, that  just  as  the  most  successful  era  of  missionary 
work  in  India  followed  the  mutiny  of  1857,  so  will  a 
new  day  for  China  date  from  the  Boxer  riots  of  1900; 
that  not  only  should  every  destroyed  station  be  rebuilt, 
but  that  plans  should  be  made  for  re-enforcements  and 
increased  expenditures,  in  order  that  the  Church  of  God 
may  seize  the  coming  strategic  opportunity  to  win  China 
for  Christ.  The  missionaries  in  particular  were  united 
and  enthusiastic  in  the  conviction  that  a large  number 
of  new  missionaries  will  be  needed  next  year,  and  that 


178  The  Siege  in  Peking 

the  young  men  in  the  theological  seminaries  should  be 
encouraged  to  apply  for  appointment. 

AN  AGGRESSIVE  POLICY  AT  HOME. 

2.  In  view  of  the  public  interest  in  China,  the  frequent 
denial  of  the  validity  of  the  whole  missionary  enterprise, 
and  the  fact  that  the  missionary  cause  now  has  the  at- 
tention of  the  country  as  never  before,  it  was  unanimous- 
ly agreed  that  we  should  adopt  an  aggressive  policy  at 
home.  A committee  was  therefore  appointed  to  prepare 
a joint  letter  to  the  American  churches,  reaffirming  the 
Divine  authority  of  missions  as  of  supreme  and  perpet- 
ual obligation,  emphasizing  the  true  significance  of  the 
present  situation  in  China,  and  summoning  the  churches 
to  special  gifts  for  the  re-establishment  and  enlargement 
of  the  work,  and  to  the  observance  of  the  week  begin- 
ning October  28th,  as  a week  of  special  prayer,  with  me- 
morial services  for  martyred  missionaries.  It  was  also 
voted  that  the  letter  should  include  reference  to  the 
noble  fidelity  of  the  Chinese  Christians  under  the  awful 
persecution  to  which  they  have  been  subjected,  com- 
mend them  to  the  sympathies  and  prayers  of  God’s  peo- 
ple everywhere,  and  heartily  indorse  the  appeal  of  Min- 
ister Conger  and  representative  missionaries  in  Peking, 
for  relief  contributions,  the  conference  holding  that 
these  Christians  were  worthy  of  a generosity  similar  to 
that  which  has  been  extended  to  the  famine  sufferers  in 
India.  We  hope  that  this  letter  will  be  read  from  every 
pulpit  in  the  United  States  and  Canada,  and  made  the 
subject  of  Sabbath  sermons,  mid-week  devotional  meet- 
ings, family  prayers,  and  such  other  services  as  may  be 
deemed  advisable  by  the  pastors  concerned. 

THE  MISSIONARIES  NOW  IN  CHINA. 

3.  Sympathetic  consideration  was  given  to  the  em- 
barrassment of  the  missionaries  who  are  crowded  in  the 
port  cities,  with  only  the  scanty  clothing  they  happened 


Appendix 


1 79 


to  be  wearing  when  they  fled  from  their  stations,  and 
forced  to  pay  high  prices  for  rent  and  supplies.  Is  the 
interruption  of  work  likely  to  be  so  long  continued  that 
they  should  come  home?  Both  furloughed  missionaries 
and  board  representatives  felt  that  a general  recall  to 
America  was  neither  necessary  nor  expedient.  Such  a 
return  would  involve  an  enormous  expense,  for  our 
Presbyterian  Board  alone  has  over  150  China  mission- 
aries still  abroad.  It  would  destroy  the  continuity  of 
the  work,  leave  the  Chinese  Christians  to  unrelieved  suf- 
fering and  disaster,  and  the  remaining  mission  property 
to  be  still  further  damaged.  It  would  make  it  impossi- 
ble to  resume  the  work  if,  in  the  providence  of  God, 
such  resumption  should  be  practicable  within  a few 
months.  The  home  church  would  be  unfavorably  af- 
fected by  such  a general  withdrawal,  naturally  constru- 
ing it  as  an  admission  of  defeat,  and  indefinite  post- 
ponement of  missionary  work,  and  in  consequence 
diminishing  gifts,  while  as  the  usual  term  of  service  in 
China  is  about  eight  years,  so  many  furloughs  now 
would  mean  that  eight  or  nine  years  hence  most  of  the 
missionaries  in  China  would  need  a furlough,  and  so 
another  general  exodus  would  be  necessary,  thus  prac- 
tically subjecting  the  work  for  an  indefinite  period  to 
alternations  of  vigorous  effort,  and  more  or  less  com- 
plete inaction.  All  agreed  therefore  that,  except  where 
conditions  of  ill  health  or  nervous  strain  render  an  im- 
mediate return  necessary,  the  missionaries  now  on  the 
field  should  await  developments  in  Korea,  Japan,  and 
such  China  ports  as  may  be  safe,  in  anticipation  of  an 
early  resumption  of  the  work,  the  care  and  reconstruc- 
tion of  the  mission  property,  and  particularly  the  guid- 
ance and  comfort  of  the  Chinese  Christians,  who  other- 
wise would  be  left  to  the  wolves  as  sheep  having  no 
shepherd.  The  suggestion  was  made  that  missionaries 
who  may  not  be  able  to  return  to  their  own  stations 
might  temporarily  assist  other  stations  or  missions. 


180  The  Siege  in  Peking 

In  like  manner,  there  was  general  agreement  that 
while  each  board  must  determine  for  itself  when  mis- 
sionaries on  furlough  and  new  missionaries  under  ap- 
pointment should  leave  for  their  respective  fields,  such 
missionaries  should  not  anticipate  an  indefinite  delay  in 
this  country,  but  should  hold  themselves  in  readiness  to 
sail  at  such  dates  as  might  prove  practicable  in  consul- 
tation with  their  respective  boards.  Some  of  these 
rested,  vigorous  men  may  be  needed  at  once  to  relieve 
their  North  China  brethren  who  have  been  exhausted 
by  the  awful  experiences  of  recent  months. 


THE  QUESTION  OF  INDEMNITY. 

4.  Much  time  was  given  to  the  question  of  indemnity. 
Eight  boards  reported  definite  knowledge  of  destroyed 
or  damaged  property,  in  some  instances  to  a very  large 
amount,  while  most  of  the  other  boards  anticipated 
losses.  Not  all  saw  alike  on  this  question.  There  was, 
however,  unanimity  in  the  conviction  that  it  would  be 
highly  unbecoming  in  the  followers  of  Christ  to  manifest 
a mercenary  spirit  and  make  exorbitant  demands  upon 
the  Chinese,  especially  as  corrupt  officials  would  prob- 
ably squeeze  the  required  sums  out  of  the  innocent  vil- 
lagers, and  count  themselves  lucky  in  getting  off  so  easy. 
After  full  discussion,  vote  was  taken  upon  the  motion 
that:  (a)  When  the  governments  shall  ask  for  infor- 
mation as  to  claims  for  indemnity,  such  claims  should 
not  include  suffering,  loss  of  life,  or  interruption  of 
work,  but  only  the  actual  value  of  destroyed  or  injured 
property,  and  the  extraordinary  expenses  incurred  in 
consequence  of  the  troubles,  and  (b)  in  exceptional 
cases,  for  loss  of  life  which  has  destroyed  the  means  of 
support  for  wife  and  children. 

The  question  being  divided,  (a)  was  carried  unani- 
mously, though  one  delegate  did  not  vote.  On  (b)  a 
majority  held  that  in  such  cases  a claim  might  reason- 


Appendix 


181 


ably  be  made  on  behalf  of  an  otherwise  destitute  family, 
though  a minority  felt  that  not  even  then  should  a money 
value  be  placed  on  missionary  life,  and  that  the  care  of 
dependent  relatives  was  a proper  charge  on  the  home 
church.  It  was  unanimously  voted  that  claims  for  in- 
demnity should  not  be  presented  by  individual  mission- 
aries directly  to  the  civil  authorities,  but  only  through 
their  respective  boards,  and  that  it  was  inexpedient  to 
appoint  an  interdenominational  committee  to  collate  and 
present  these  claims,  but  that  each  board  should  act  for 
itself. 

The  thought  here  was  not  to  interfere  with  the  liberty 
of  any  missionary,  but  rather  to  relieve  him  and  also 
the  government.  Several  hundred  missionaries  are  in- 
volved. They  are  widely  scattered.  While  a few  are 
so  situated  that  they  might  effectively  push  their  own 
claims,  a large  majority  would  be  under  great  disadvan- 
tage in  conducting  the  necessary  negotiations.  Nor 
must  we  forget  the  embarrassment  to  which  our  gov- 
ernment might  be  exposed.  The  State  Department  has 
been  exceedingly  kind,  and  no  member  of  the  adminis- 
tration has  ever  even  hinted  at  the  annoyance  of  which 
Lord  Salisbury  complained  in  England.  Nevertheless, 
we  can  readily  see  what  delicacies  would  be  involved  if 
so  many  individuals  were  to  be  pushing  indemnity  claims 
with  varying  degrees  of  vigor  and  with  widely  different 
ideas  as  to  what  objects  should  be  included.  More- 
over, experience  with  Oriental  governments  hardly  jus- 
tifies the  belief  that  the  indemnity  will  be  paid  within 
ten  days ! While  the  negotiations  are  pending,  how  are 
the  missionaries  to  be  carried?  They  must  have  im- 
mediate reimbursement  for  the  extraordinary  expense 
which  they  have  incurred.  Manifestly  the  boards  must 
stand  behind  the  missionaries,  promptly  meeting  their 
necessary  and  pressing  obligations,  and  then  deal  with 
the  government  regarding  the  indemnity.  The  boards 
are  better  able  to  bear  the  burden  of  delay  than  the  in- 


182 


The  Siege  in  Peking 

dividual  missionaries.  In  the  Presbyterian  Board  we 
shall  follow  the  analogy  of  our  annual  estimates,  ask 
each  individual  and  station  to  make  out  a schedule,  have 
it  voted  on  by  the  mission,  and  then  forwarded  to  the 
board  in  New  York.  In  this  way  the  vexed  question  of 
indemnity  can  be  handled  in  an  orderly  and  prudent 
manner.  We  shall  avoid  demands  which  might  subject 
the  whole  missionary  enterprise  to  criticism,  and  we 
shall  not  embitter  the  Chinese  by  taking  what  might  be 
deemed  unfair  advantage  of  them. 

MISSIONARIES  AND  THE  CIVIL  POWERS. 

5.  The  conference  was  not  disposed  to  allow  critics  to 
define  the  relation  of  the  missionary  to  the  civil  power, 
especially  as  those  critics  do  not  ordinarily  distinguish 
between  the  radically  different  practises  of  Roman  Cath- 
olics and  Protestants.  It  was  felt  that  this  would  be  a 
good  time  for  the  Protestant  missionary  bodies  to  put 
themselves  on  record.  As  such  a paper  could  not  wisely 
be  framed  amid  the  hurry  of  a conference,  a committee 
was  appointed  to  draft  it,  and  to  report  at  the  annual 
joint  conference  next  January.  Meantime,  the  Presby- 
terian missionaries  unanimously  declared  it  to  be  their 
rule  not  to  apply  to  the  civil  authorities  unless  absolutely 
necessary,  and  that  they  had  repeatedly  refused  to  make 
such  appeals  when  they  might  reasonably  have  done  so. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  A.  A.  Fulton,  of  Canton,  stated  that  he  had 
not  appealed  to  the  civil  authorities  half  a dozen  times 
in  twenty  years.  The  Rev.  A.  M.  Cunningham,  of 
Peking,  had  appealed  only  twice  in  eight  and  a half 
years,  and  then  simply  to  transmit  information ; the  Rev, 
P.  W.  McClintock,  of  Hainan,  only  once  in  eight  years ; 
the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  N.  Hayes,  of  Suchou,  once  in  eighteen 
years;  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Laughlin,  of  Shantung,  never  in 
nineteen  years.  And  the  missionaries  stated  that  they 
believed  themselves  to  be  fairly  representative  of  the 
practice  of  American  Protestant  missionaries  in  China. 


Appendix  183 

A significant  indication  of  the  attitude  of  the  hoards 
was  given  in  the  vote  on  a request  that  had  been  cabled 
from  China  to  several  boards,  asking  them  to  protest  to 
Washington  against  the  proposed  evacuation  of  Peking 
by  the  allied  armies  and  the  reinstatement  of  the  Em- 
press-dowager, as  disastrous  to  missions.  Some  of  the 
missionaries  thought  that  such  a protest  should  be  made 
on  the  ground  that  the  withdrawal  of  the  armies  and  the 
reinstatement  of  the  Empress  would  be  construed  by  the 
Chinese  as  a victory  for  them,  destroy  the  moral  effect 
of  the  occupation  of  Peking,  and  perhaps  lead  to  the  re- 
newal of  trouble.  The  interdenominational  conference, 
however,  unanimously  voted  to  take  no  action.  Some  of 
its  members  had  decided  convictions  as  to  what  the  gov- 
ernments ought  to  do ; but  they  held  that  it  was  not 
proper  for  missionary  workers,  as  such,  to  proffer  un- 
asked advice  to  the  government  in  a matter  so  distinctly 
within  its  sphere,  nor  were  they  willing  to  go  on  record 
as  saying  that  an  armed  force  is  necessary  to  missionary 
interests  anywhere.  While  several  of  the  missionaries 
felt  that  the  instigators  and  leaders  of  the  uprising 
should  be  punished  in  the  interest  of  future  security,  the 
majority  declared  that  this  question  also  belonged  to  the 
government,  which  was  understood  to  have  it  under 
consideration,  and  that  any  demand  on  the  part  of  mis- 
sionaries or  boards  was  to  be  seriously  deprecated.  The 
power  of  the  sword  has  not  been  committed  to  us,  and 
the  civil  magistrate  to  whom  it  has  been  committed 
should,  in  our  judgment,  exercise  that  power  or.  his  own 
initiative  and  responsibility. 

THE  QUESTION  OF  COMITY. 

On  May  15,  the  Presbyterian  Board  adopted  a decla- 
ration of  principles  of  comity,  and  expressed  to  its  sister 
boards  its  cordial  willingness  to  co-operate  in  any  practi- 
cal measures  to  carry  them  into  effect.  The  suggestion 


184  The  Siege  in  Peking 

was  made  that  a providential  opportunity  had  now  oc- 
curred. Manifestly  the  conference  could  not  take  final 
action  on  such  a question,  but  it  unanimously  adopted 
the  following  resolution : 

It  is  the  judgment  of  this  conference  that  the  resump- 
tion of  mission  work  in  those  parts  of  China  where  it 
has  been  interrupted  would  afford  a favorable  opportu- 
nity for  putting  into  practise  some  of  the  principles  of 
mission  comity  which  have  been  approved  by  a general 
consensus  of  opinion  among  missionaries  and  boards, 
especially  in  regard  to  the  overlapping  of  fields  and  such 
work  as  printing  and  publishing,  higher  education  and 
hospital  work,  and  the  conference  would  commend  the 
subject  to  the  favorable  consideration  and  action  of  the 
various  boards  and  their  missionaries. 

Each  board  will  immediately  inaugurate  a vigorous 
foreign  missionary  campaign  among  the  home  churches. 
In  the  Presbyterian  Board,  we  are  urging  the  mission- 
aries from  China  now  in  this  country  to  avail  them- 
selves of  the  public  interest  by  freely  contributing  arti- 
cles to  the  religious  and  secular  papers,  and  to  give  all 
practicable  time  10  the  home  department  secretary  for 
addresses.  We  are  calling  upon  the  churches  not  only  to 
maintain  their  usual  gifts,  but  to  provide  a large  fund 
with  which  we  can  meet  the  extraordinary  expenses  in- 
curred during  recent  months,  and  in  due  time  rebuild 
the  ruined  stations  and  enlarge  the  work.  We  propose 
to  divide  this  estimated  special  expenditure  into  shares 
of  one  hundred  dollars  each,  and  endeavor  to  place  them 
with  churches,  societies,  and  individuals,  such  shares  to 
be  in  excess  of  ordinary  contributions  and  of  the  fifteen 
per  cent,  increase  required  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
regular  work. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  steady  tone  of  both  con- 
ferences was  distinctively  hopeful.  All  felt  that  the 
American  churches  are  now  being  brought  into  new  re- 


Appendix 


185 

lations  with  the  unevangelized  races.  They  must  no 
longer  regard  foreign  missions  as  simply  one  of  many 
causes  calling  for  collections,  but  be  led  to  recognize  the 
world-wide  preaching  of  the  Gospel  as  the  great  work 
for  which  the  Church  is  set.  May  we  not  confidently 
rely  upon  the  prayers  of  all  the  friends  of  missions  as 
we  now  summon  the  churches  to  go  forward  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord  of  Hosts? 

THE  MARTYRED  MISSIONARIES. 

Very  tender  was  that  part  of  the  conference  in  which 
report  was  made  of  martyrdoms.  Only  two  boards 
represented  were  thus  bereaved,  but  they  have  lost  heav- 
ily. The  American  Board  announced  the  massacre  of 
one  man  and  two  women  at  Pao-ting-fu  and  the  entire 
Shansi  force — five  men,  five  women,  and  five  children. 
The  Presbyterian  board  mourns  the  death  of  three  men, 
two  women,  and  three  children  at  Pao-ting-fu — a total 
for  both  boards  of  eighteen  missionaries  and  eight  little 
ones.  Considering  the  large  number  of  American  mis- 
sionaries in  China,  and  the  magnitude  and  violence  oi 
the  outbreak,  this  is  a comparatively  small  numerical 
loss.  But  when  we  add  the  European  missionaries  who 
also  ascended  in  that  tumult  of  fire,  the  list  lengthens 
to  appalling  proportions.  None  who  knew  them  can 
scan  that  roll  of  martyrs  without  feeling  that  the  soil  of 
China  has  been  forever  consecrated  by  the  blood  of  God’s 
saints — “ of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy.”  May 
God  show  the  shining  of  His  face  through  the  cloud  of 
sorrow,  and  may  He  grant  to  those  who  remain  a new 
spirit  of  love  and  power  for  the  Master  who  Himself 
tasted  the  bitterness  of  death  for  us  all ! 


i86 


The  Siege  in  Peking 


SIR  ROBERT  HART. 

Some  College  Memories. 

The  Belfast  Northern  Whig  of  the  21st  of  July  has 
the  following  interesting  letter  from  the  president  of 
Queen’s  College,  Belfast: 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Northern  Whig. 

Sir — With  a heavy  heart  I sit  down  to  ask  your  per- 
mission to  weave  if  only  a little  chaplet  for  the  bier  of 
my  friend,  Sir  Robert  Hart,  whose  terrible  death  you 
chronicle  for  us  to-day. 

Were  this  college  in  session,  and  not,  as  it  is,  in  the 
midst  of  the  long  vacation,  I have  no  doubt  an  official 
pronouncement  would  be  made  testifying  to  the  unut- 
terable regret  which  I know  is  felt  throughout  our  entire 
body  at  the  awful  news.  As  it  is,  I can  only  speak  fee- 
bly for  myself  what  would  otherwise  be  said  much  more 
effectively,  and  with  all  the  weight  of  authority,  by  the 
College  Council.  The  death  is,  I need  not  say,  an  ir- 
reparable loss  to  our  empire  and  to  the  cause  of  civiliza- 
tion and  progress  all  over  the  world.  But  to  Queen’s 
College,  Belfast,  it  is  a personal  bereavement.  Sir  Rob- 
ert Hart  was  one  of  our  earliest  alumni,  and  we  were 
all  proud  of  him  with  a pardonable  pride.  It  is  sad  to 
turn  now  to  our  “ Calendar,”  as  I have  done  this  morn- 
ing. and  read  of  his  career,  when,  in  the  early  flush  of 
ambition,  he  trod  our  cloisters  with  Reichel,  and  Mac- 
Douall  and  Craik,  and  Andrews  and  M’Cosh,  and  the 
other  professors  of  that  day,  and  contended  for  our 
scholarships  and  prizes  with  fellow-students,  too  many 
of  whom  are  also,  alas ! no  more.  It  was  in  1850  that 
he  entered  college.  His  form  of  application  for  admis- 
sion, filled  up  in  his  own  youthful  handwriting,  is  pre- 
served among  the  archives  in  the  Registrar’s  office,  and 
is  now  a precious  relic.  In  his  first  year  he  won  a junior 


Appendix  187 

literary  scholarship  in  the  Faculty  of  Arts.  Next  year 
he  gained  another,  one  of  his  competitors,  who  ran  him 
very  close,  and  in  the  end  took  a higher  place,  being 
James  Cuming,  who  was  in  later  years  to  become  our 
widely  known  professor  of  medicine.  In  1852  he  took 
a third-year  scholarship,  this  time  topping  the  list,  and 
next  year  he  crowned  his  career  among  us  by  gaining 
the  highest  honor  then  in  our  gift — a senior  scholarship 
— his  subjects  for  which  were  modern  languages  and 
modern  history.  He  then  graduated,  not,  as  has  been 
stated,  in  the  University  of  Dublin,  but,  of  course,  in 
the  old  Queen’s  University,  and  took  first  honors  in 
two  groups  of  subjects — English  and  logic  and  meta- 
physics. Not  long  after,  on  the  advice,  I believe,  of  Dr. 
Andrews  and  Dr.  M’Cosh,  he  entered  on  that  career 
from  which  China  was  to  reap  such  splendid  fruit,  and 
which  has  now  ended  so  tragically.  Ever  since  his 
course  has  been  watched  with — may  I not  say? — a 
unique  and  admiring  interest,  and  ever  since  also  he  has 
proved  himself  the  fast  friend  of  his  old  college.  To 
student  after  student  he  opened  careers  in  China.  Mr. 
S.  M.  Russell,  who,  it  is  to  be  feared,  has  now  shared 
his  fate,  and  Mr.  C.  H.  Oliver  were  appointed  through 
him  professors  in  the  Imperial  College,  Peking,  and 
other  men  were  given  posts  in  the  Imperial  Maritime 
Customs  which  Sir  Robert  may  be  said  to  have  created. 
To-day  there  are  specially  recalled  to  my  memory  two 
little  incidents  in  the  recent  history  of  our  college — little 
but  significant — in  which  his  love  for  his  Alma  Mater 
shone  out  conspicuously.  Eight  years  ago  I wrote  him 
of  the  proposal  to  establish  a Students’  Union  here,  and 
by  next  post  came,  not  only  his  cheque  for  £200,  but 
a letter,  warmly  approving  of  the  project  and  breath- 
ing the  most  ardent  affection  for  the  scene  of  his  early 
studies  and  academic  struggles.  The  other  incident  oc- 
curred when,  a few  years  later,  we  celebrated  the  jubilee 
of  the  college.  He  then  sent  me  another  letter,  the  read- 


188  The  Siege  in  Peking 

ing  of  which  at  the  memorable  meeting  in  our  library,  in 
the  presence  of  the  Lord  Lieutenant  and  the  many  other 
notable  personages  who  honored  us  with  their  presence 
that  day,  was  not  the  least  interesting  feature  of  a re- 
markable occasion.  In  it  he  regretted  keenly  that  he 
could  not  be  with  us  to  share  our  joy  and  join  in  our 
congratulations,  and  recalled  many  interesting  details  of 
his  student  days.  It  is  unutterably  saddening  to  think 
that  that  busy  brain  and  that  warm  heart  are  now  for 
ever  still.  In  the  terribly  long  list  of  deaths  which  this 
year  has  brought — deaths  which  have  tolled  and  are  still 
tolling  their  muffled  knells  in  our  hearts — his  stands  out 
in  melancholy  prominence.  But  the  great  work  which 
he  has  done  remains  behind,  and  it  will  be  long  indeed 
before  the  illustrious  name,  the  splendid  services  to 
humanity,  and  the  unsullied  reputation  of  Robert  Hart 
pass  into  oblivion. 

Thomas  Hamilton. 

Queen’s  College,  Belfast,  July  16,  1900. 


Appendix 


189 


ENGLISH  COMMENTS  ON  GERMAN  SCHEME 
From  The  North  China  Herald  .* 

Some  of  the  above  conditions  will  commend  them- 
selves to  those  charged  with  the  negotiation  of  peace 
with  China.  Some  are  impracticable  or  unadvisable. 
No.  1 is  all  right.  As  to  No.  2,  the  first  part  is  all  right ; 
as  to  the  second  part,  whoever  negotiates  with  the 
Chinese,  whether  one  person  or  more,  must  be  the 
mouthpiece  of  a conference  of  the  Powers,  who  will  all 
want  to  be  heard,  and  few  of  whom  are  likely  to  be  will- 
ing to  intrust  their  interests  entirely  to  others.  Nos.  3 
and  4 are  all  right.  As  to  No.  5,  if  Nanking  is  too  much 
exposed  to  the  preponderating  influence  of  a foreign 
naval  Power,  Peking  is  equally  exposed  to  the  prepon- 
derating influence  of  a foreign  military  Power.  There 
is  a little  jealousy  about  the  objection  to  Nanking,  but 
that  is  another  story.  Nanking  is  certainly  in  every  way 
preferable  as  capital  to  Peking.  No.  6 is  all  right.  No. 
7 is  all  right  if  the  European  control  of  the  finances  of 
China  takes  the  form  of  an  international  service  like  the 
Imperial  Maritime  Customs.  A European  army  of  oc- 
cupation will  no  doubt  be  necessary  for  a time,  but  if 
the  settlement  is  to  be  permanent  and  to  work  smoothly 
the  Chinese  must  not  be  humiliated  more  than  is  abso- 
lutely necessary.  This  objection  applies  also  to  Nos.  8 
and  g ; it  is  not  desirable  to  try  and  impose  terms  which 
China  would  rather  fight  to  the  death  than  accept.  Men 
like  Liu  Kun-yi  and  Chang  Chih-tung  must  be  consid- 
ered ; and  we  cannot  imagine  their  acceding,  under  the 
circumstances,  to  such  terms  as  these.  No.  10  is  all 
right ; but  what  knowledge  should  we  have  of  the  inte- 

* See  pages  158-160. 


190  The  Siege  in  Peking 

rior  of  China  now  if  such  a regulation  as  No.  11  had 
been  always  in  force  ? We  would  certainly  approve  of 
a restriction  on  the  presence  of  unmarried  foreign  women 
in  the  interior  ; but  we  cannot  see  that  a missionary  has 
any  less  right  to  go  outside  thirty  miles  from  a treaty 
port  than  a trader  or  an  engineer.  No.  11  seems  to  us 
both  impracticable  and  unadvisable.  No.  12  is  all  right. 
While  we  do  not  agree  with  all  these  suggestions,  we 
think  their  publication  is  eminently  desirable  ; the  more 
those  who  know  China  well  publish  their  conceptions  of 
the  terms  that  should  be  exacted,  and  the  more  these 
are  discussed,  the  easier  it  will  be  for  the  negotiators 
when  the  time  comes  to  arrive  at  a satisfactory  result. 


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